Confirming Carter Bk. 02 Daedalus Ch. 05

"Sorry about that general. But let me say again how relieved we are to see you. Are you back in command at the SGC? Or is the IOA just giving me a friendly face to talk to?

"I'm disappointed that you would think that, Samantha. No, the President has withdrawn the United States from the IOA, and we have resumed control of the gate. I am authorized to negotiate for the American government."

Carter looked down at the table. When she looked up, her face was somber.

"I'm sorry general, but that won't be good enough. Just because you control the gate, that doesn't give you the right to speak for the peoples of Earth." She paused, giving him a moment to digest what she'd said. "We have already been recognized by the Free Jaffa Nation, and the Athosian peoples. We have also announced our independence to the worlds of the Pegasus galaxy, and expect to be begin establishing diplomatic ties within the week."

"You didn't waste any time did you? But are you saying that you want to deal with the IOA?" Landry asked, looking perplexed.

"No, that's not what I'm saying. In order for me to negotiate with Earth, we would have to work with a representative body that speaks for the majority of peoples of Earth, not a group looking out solely for the interests of member nations. I'm not saying that you have to make the gate public, but we have to ensure that the best interests of all the peoples of Earth are taken into consideration."

"We can wait until you speak to the President, and he speaks to whoever he has too. In the meantime, there are issues that we can discuss that are to our mutual interest." She added.

"Actually Sam, the President is listening." Landry said. "But these other issues? Would they involve property and assets recently seized from the IOA?"

"No, general, I'm think more along the line of gifts. One of which you've already received. Well, that was our first trade item really, and we haven't received our requested price for it." She said casually.

"I've read the note you sent through with Ellis. That price is being discussed. But you mentioned other gifts in your note."

"Yes, ten thousand drones for the chair weapons platform in Antarctica. I have fifty pallets of the damned things clogging up my gateroom, and I'd really like to get them out of here."

Landry finally lost it, and burst out laughing. When he regained control, he was smiling broadly, and said, "We'd be glad to take them off your hands, Sam. And I'm being told that the best we can do for that trade item is three for your one."

"That's fine, general. We just wanted to know that you would trade." Carter said. "We'll need a gate address to send the drones to. I will not send them directly to Earth. I won't take the risk of being responsible for an accident. I hope you understand."

"I understand, and appreciate that, Sam. Would you still like our depleted ZPM's to be sent to a space gate?"

"Yes please. I'll feel better doing it that way. Please don't send the one Camulus gave you. We'll be checking them carefully." Carter told him. "It's not lack of trust, but we're not going to be shipping anything into Atlantis. All trade from offworld will be routed to other gates, inspected, then transferred. It's just good business."

"Very well." Landry said. "I'm getting questions about the Daedalus and Apollo. What is their condition, and when will they be returned?"

"Both ships are in excellent condition, and we will be keeping both of them for the Atlantian navy." Carter said.

She watched as Landry winced, then removed an earwig from one ear and dropped it in his trashcan. His phone started ringing immediately, and he hit the speaker phone.

"You can ask your own goddamned questions now, and if you want to fire me, feel free." He said lightly. "You need me alot more than I need you right now."

He was met with silence from the phone.

"Tell them that if it makes them feel any better, I plan on returning thirty of the three-oh-two's the Apollo carried as soon as I can." Carter said. "Probably within the next two weeks. Daedalus and Apollo, however, are spoils of war. If I'm to believe Mr. Woolsey, in addition to issuing a death warrant on me, the IOA also declared war on my city. Talk to your people, Hank. I have a copy of the death warrant. I'll send it to you if you like. We never received the declaration of war. Very sloppy."

"To my knowledge, there was no declaration of war, Sam. The IOA was not authorized to take such an action." Landry said. "I believe Woolsey misspoke in your last conversation, But that's neither here nor there. You should know, however, that you've placed Earth in a precarious position by seizing those ships, Sam."

"No, general. I defended my city and my people from hostile vessels, and neutralized the threat." Carter said. "But we can talk later about them. As we acquire more ships from other sources, we may be open to returning one of those ships, or providing you with others. But rest assured, that should the need arise, we will assist in the defense of Earth, regardless of our diplomatic status."

"You would..." Landry began.

"Let us make this clear for everyone listening." Carter said, looking directly into a camera. "Atlantis is our home now, and our first responsibility is to it, and our people. But Earth is our homeworld, and we will not allow anything to happen to it because of the fumblings of dimwitted politicians and bureaucrats. Should the need arise, we will bring our ships and cities to Earth's defense."

"Excuse me...your highness." A voice said. "Did you say cities? Am I to under..."

"Who is speaking please?" Carter said, a look of irritation crossing her face. "And I would prefer that address me as colonel, or Samantha."

"This is Henry Hayes, colonel. President of the United States." He said. "My apologies, colonel. But are you saying that you are in possession of more than one ancient city?"

"I was speaking in future tense, sir." She smiled. "We are aware of other ancient cities and outposts, and as our population grows, we plan on restoring them, and expanding our domain."

"Thank you, colonel. Knowing that you have a place in your heart for Earth gives me hope for the future." Hayes said. "Would you accept the recognition of the United States, as a sign of good faith, until such a time as the governments of Earth can reach an agreement on establishing relations with Atlantis?"

Carter touched a button beside her, and Samuels came up on a monitor off to the side.

"Your thoughts Andi?" She asked.

"It would be in the best interests of all parties to have some sort of formal agreement in place, Sam." Samuels said. "I'm Dr. Andi Samuels, gentlemen. Foreign Minister. It also allows us to deal directly with the United States, which is most likely to supply us with the personnel and assets we would be most interested in acquiring in the coming months."

"What type of personnel would you be referring to, Dr. Samuels?" Landry asked.

"Doctors, engineers, skilled labor, construction workers." Samuels answered. "I'm sending you Col. Carter's outline for the department she proposed to the IOA, and copies of requests she has sent to the Pentagon, then the IOA over the years she was with the SGC. You will see what we have in mind for Pegasus, and eventually, the Milky Way galaxy."

Samuels turned her attention back to Carter. "If I may? This is as good a time as any." She said.

Carter nodded, taking Tammy's hand again as she sat back, crossing her legs.

"We will announce a date for the coronation in the next few days. Our tentative plan is to have that in sixty days, and we are on schedule for that." She said, looking at her notes. "Representatives from Earth are of course welcome, but we would ask that you assist us by arranging transportation for family members and friends of the colonel's court. We will provide you a list of who we wish to have in attendance."

"If I may." Hayes said. "I've been through two inaugurations, and both were a nightmare. I don't even want to begin to imagine what my staff went through. As an act of friendship, would you allow us to assist you in planning and preparing for the coronation? I'm sure that our friends with royal houses would also be willing to assist."

"Thank you, Henry." Carter smiled. "We would appreciate that. Can I assume that you would like to accompany Gen. Landry to the ceremony?"

"Yes, please. My wife and I weren't invited to several recent events, and to be honest, if I missed an event such as this, I'd never hear the end of it." Hayes laughed. "And I would like to see your fair city. From what I've seen and heard, it is a sight to behold."

"If we could get back on topic." Samuels said. "Col. Carter will appreciate any assistance the American government wishes to provide, and we believe that formal relations between us are acceptable. This is of course, contingent on a later agreement with a body representing all the peoples of Earth. This is non-negotiable. All of our diplomatic relations will be done on a by world basis, not individual states on those worlds. That is not an issue in Pegasus, but will present a problem in the Milky Way."

"My staff will prepare and send an outline of our needs, as well as what we have to offer in the form of trade, training, and technology. We should establish channels of communication, but those are details that can be worked out later." Samuels said. "For now, I believe we should exchange statements of intent, then have representatives meet to formalize an agreement. Those talks should take place on neutral ground, and I believe Chulak would be a good choice for that, since we both have friendly relations with the Free Jaffa Nation."

"That will be acceptable, doctor." Hayes said. "My staff will have that statement of intent to you by close of business today, and we'll await your next communication on the other issues." Hayes paused, then addressed Carter.

"Col. Carter, I regret that you were put in a position that you felt it necessary to take the steps you have. But from what I have heard today, and from briefings recently, I am beginning to believe that this might actually be for the best. I want to assure you, that the American government will work with you in any way we can, to ensure peaceful, productive relations between Atlantis, the peoples of the Pegasus galaxy, and Earth."

"Thank you, Mr. President." Carter replied formally. "Friendly relations with our homeworld is the most important diplomatic effort we have, and is foremost in our minds. Our people will wish to return home someday, to see their families and loved ones. You have our assurances as well, that we have only the warmest feelings for Earth, and her peoples. We truly hope that we can once again become a family, and not just friends."

"I believe that we should conclude this initial meeting on that high note." Samuels said. "Gen. Landry, we will be communicating with you regularly over the next several days, and will have an introductory package for you by close of business as agreed. We will accept any communications from you of course."

"Thank you, doctor." Landry said, looking down at his monitor. "I will forward everything as it is received from Washington. I've taken the liberty of transmitting personal messages to some friends. If you would be kind enough to see that they are delivered?"

"Gladly general." Samuels smiled. "If no one has anything else, I believe we're finished." She paused for a moment. "Thank you gentlemen, Atlantis out."

The monitor over the door went dark, and Samuels looked up at them from her monitor. "Ops confirms the gate is closed. We're clear."

"That went better than I expected. But we'll have to wait and see what they come back with." Carter said. She looked over at the monitor and grinned. "And when did you get a staff Andi?"

"As soon as you approve it, my queen." Samuels laughed. "Would you like to come home and talk more, or would you like to see your new conference center?"

"We'll come home. See you in a few."

Interior-Kitchen

1530 Hours

"I'm going to ask Andi to make us up a greatest hit disks of us doing it." Tammy said as she sat on the toilet. "I think it would be kewl to watch us doing it while we did it."

"Don't you dare!" Sam said, coming over to stand in front of her. "It's bad enough that she watches us, but..."

"Oh come on, Sam! You never watched porn before?" Tammy laughed as she stood up. "Just think how hot it'll be! We'll be the stars!"

"I don't even want to think about that, much less talk about it." Sam said, shaking her head as she walked out of the bathroom. "I'll be in the kitchen." She called back over her shoulder.

Tammy came into the kitchen a few minutes later, and stopped behind Andi. She leaned down and whispered to her, and Andi looked back at her, then shook her head. She looked back at her tablet, then waved her over to take her seat.

"We received a gate address to send the drones to, and the initial package for the diplomacy. Still no ZPM's." Samuels said. "The statement of intent is straightforward, and doesn't commit them to anything. That's to be expected. Our's reads the same way. But it's just an opening gesture."

"What do you think? Are they legit, or are they playing a game?" Carter asked.

"Hayes means what he says, but he'd prefer to keep us, and the gate program in American hands. I don't have a problem with that, but I agree that we deal with worlds, not states. So they're going to have to grow up. I think they'll do it, but they'll only approach the developed, or industrialized countries, they won't include the third world. We can look at dealing with forty or so countries, not just the five the IOA was made up of. That's a representative sample, call it a little over sixty percent of the total population of the planet."

"What we have to watch out for is the big dogs. The Americans, the Russians and the Chinese. The Russians and Chinese have been letting the Americans foot the bill for the gate program since they found out about it, but have been demanding a share of all technologies found, while trying to call the shots by using threats of exposure, even war. That's more the Chinese than the Russians. They're going to be pushing for settlements in Pegasus inside the first year."

"So we'll be pulled into a diplomatic cesspool on Earth, while trying to establish our own relationships here in Pegasus." Carter said, shaking her head.

"No, we tell them up front that we won't do that." Samuels said. "We deal with whatever agency they present us, in good faith, but we sit down privately with the leadership of the big three beforehand. We explain to them what we expect, and if they find it unacceptable, we tell them all deals are off, they can give us a call if you need us."

"There's six billion people on that planet, and there has already been noise about wanting to resettle some of them somewhere else. Involuntarily, of course. With Atlantis as a shield, they'll want to look here for that. The Milky Way would actually be safer, but they won't see that."

"Are you saying that they still see us as their property? A wayward child as it were?" Tammy asked.

"That's a good analogy. There are some that believe that we will come to our senses, and come running home to mama." Samuels said. "Another group, a small one thankfully, will do everything they can to impede our progress. They'll eventually be ignored and left out of the process once others see that we're standing on our own, and are making strides without Earth's help. The bulk of the people that we'll be dealing with will see what we're offering as a benefit, and try to figure out how to get a piece of the pie for their people. That's the group we target."

"The way you say it, it makes it sound like we don't want to deal with any of them, Andi." Keller said.

"Necessary evils, and I admit, neither diplomacy nor psychiatry are the friendliest of languages for describing people or relationships. Let's talk about the group that will want us to do something for them." Samuels said.

"Let's table this for a while instead." Carter said. "I'm not up for listening to another three hour lecture. Make your arrangements, see what they have to say, and keep me in the loop. How many people do you have working for you right now, Andi?"

"Directly? Forty or so, then another two hundred reporting through them." Samuels told her. "That's in half a dozen different efforts, including translating manuals, database searches, and making arrangements to import refugees."

Carter nodded. "I'd like all of you to give me an org chart. I want to see who is working on what, and what progress they're making. That means formalizing your departments, with an outline of duties, responsibilities and goals. I'm thinking that we're already duplicating efforts, and I'd like to stop it before it gets started, or too deeply ingrained."

"Andi, you mentioned to Tammy the other night that you want to bring in a household staff, and secretaries for me and her. I like that idea. I also like your idea of desks in the bedroom. Make it happen as soon as possible. And start staffing your diplomatic corps. Take what you need from any department, but feel free to go offworld if you need to. Keep it in Pegasus."

She looked around the table at them. "I've been the worst offender, at least when it comes to winging it. I've been throwing out ideas and orders, and expecting things to get done. I've been able do that, because I have the best people working for me, but as we start to grow, things are going to get out of control. So I want daily status reports from all of you. Copy Tammy, and the other department heads. And while I'm on it, if you get a reply from Tammy, follow it, she's my co-queen, and shares my authority, but only senior staff needs to know that."

"In addition to your household guard, Ronin wants to setup a strike force, which I think is a good idea." Sheppard said. "We have rapid response teams, but now that we have these spec ops people, we might as well make use of them. I want to recruit as we import people too, not all of them are going to have the ancient gene, and we're not going to need that much manual labor."

"You'd be surprised how much manual labor we're going to need, John." Samuels said, sliding a tablet down to him. "With each city running at full capacity, it could take as many as twenty-eight thousand unskilled workers to keep them going. Of course, we'll need another forty-five thousand skilled workers to get everything running at peak capacity."

"Seventy-three thousand people to run each of them?" Tammy said. "Are you sure about that Andi? I mean..."

"The actual number to run both cities is over a hundred and ten thousand, Tammy. Once you add in clerical, support and management staffs." Samuels said. "Right now, with the exception of the drone facility on the east pier, all our efforts are being concentrated on the north pier. We should hit five percent production in some of those shops by the end of the week."

"Two hundred thousand people." Carter said slowly. She shook her head, looking around the table. "It looks like we have out work cut out for us. Let's get to it."

Interior-Office

1710 Hours

"May we speak?" Teyla said softly. drawing Carter off to one side as the meeting broke up, and people drifted into the living room. "Privately?"

"Of course, Teyla." Sam said. "Would my office be private enough? Or would you prefer to go outside? We can..."

"The office will be fine. I have news of...we must talk."

Carter led her into her office, closing the door behind her. Teyla took a seat, perching on the edge a chair, and Sam looked at her as she leaned against the desk.

"What's on your mind, Teyla?" Carter asked. "We should be celebrating, but you look frightened, or at the very least, nervous. What's wrong?"