Confirming Carter Bk. 03 Changes Ch. 02

"I didn't play sports in school, my family moved around alot." He said. "But I started learning how to fight before I could walk. I have five brothers. I started martial arts when I was four."

"I thought it was something like that." She said nodding. "Who gave you your early training? Did you study with the same person for a while at the beginning?"

"Yeah, we took lessons from a crazy old chinaman who thought Bruce Lee was a fag." He told her. "I was already a brown belt when they enrolled us in the new dojo. I think I was eight, maybe nine. I got my first black belt at ten."

She looked over at Sam and Tammy. "Now that we got his booboo's taken care of, he's gonna be fine. Susan overreacted, I guess she's never seen a world-class athlete before. At least, not the inside of one."

"His internal structure is the same as a typical olympic athlete, they demonstrate the same traits. I knew there was nothing wrong with him when I saw that his resting heart rate was thirty-two."

"You took Ronin down twice in less than a minute both times. I don't think that first one lasted twenty seconds." Sam said.

Cisco nodded. "I watch him all the time in the gym, I like his roughhouse style. He hasn't had much formal training, he learned what he does by fighting, and incorporating what works for him. I had an advantage, he's never seen me fight."

"Why is that? That we didn't hear about you, I mean." Sam asked him. "And why didn't you tryout already?"

"I didn't know that there were open tryouts, and I don't spar in the gym. There's no one I can go with and not worry about hurting them." He said. "I tried when I first got here, but I kept sending people to the infirmary, so my sergeant told me to knock it off. Now I just do my kata's out on the east pier. I guess I just slipped under the radar."

He paused for a moment, then looked over at Sam. "What's the old man's name? I've seen him before."

"That's Master Bra'tac." She said with a grin. "Teal'c was his apprentice, and succeeded him as first prime of Apophis."

"I thought so, I just wasn't sure. I know Teal'c, I used to spar with him. I spent three years at the SGC before I came here. I was on SG-14."

"Is he going to be okay?" Ronin asked as he came into the kitchen.

"I'm fine, they got me taped up." Cisco said, starting to get up. "You need me for something?"

Ronin waved him down and stopped next to Carter. "I wanted to talk to the colonel about how we're going to set up the guard, now that we have you."

"We can do that." She said, looking up at him. "Have a seat, and let's hear what you have to say."

"You don't need me for this, so I think I'm going to go back over to the infirmary for a while. I have a few things I need to catch up on." Keller said as she stood up.

She looked down at Cisco as she went by. "Change the tape on those fingers everyday, and keep the splints on for at least a week. You can get the wrap on those ribs changed day after tomorrow. Come to the infirmary, or Susan can do it downstairs. It's waterproof, so you can shower in it."

"Thanks, doc." He nodded

"Come back for dinner later if you want, Jenn. And bring John, we're going to want everyone to get used to having Cisco around." Tammy said, getting up and filling her glass from the tap.

"We'll do that. Thanks."

"What's on your mind, Ronin?" Carter asked as she left.

"I said it upstairs, make him head of the guard." Ronin said, looking down at the table. "I don't know what I'm doing. and I don't want what happened this morning to happen again."

"No." She said. "You are my guardian of the realm, and head of the household guard. If you don't think you know how to do the job, we'll get people in to teach you how to do it. We just got you your first teacher. He can teach you the military structure we use here, and how the guard is going to fit into it."

"And you've been doing a great job so far." Tammy said. "You've got people picked out, and are getting them trained. And you've got us trained not to leave the house without a team."

"You didn't turn your shield on." He said, looking down the table at her. He looked over at Carter, then back at Tammy. "I keep telling you that you have to keep them on, because we don't know what's going to happen."

Tammy looked away, and before she could say anything, Cisco spoke up.

"She got the colonel out of the line of fire and was covering her while we took him down." He said. "She made a mistake, but she made up for it. And that was our fault too, for not checking."

He looked down the table at Carter. "Can we do this here? Or do you want us to get things worked out between us, let him bring me up to speed, and set up a program, then come back and tell you what we're going to do?"

"We don't have anything planned." She said. "I wanted to spend some time with the boys, and I haven't seen Jacob since this morning. But let's do it now." She looked over at Tammy. "Get them a couple tablets, we might as well write it down."

"Okay, then item one, Ronin and I should have quarters in this building, not all the way across the city. We need easy, unrestricted access to you. Dr. Samuels said that she had moved everyone else out of this building. Give us two floors for our security teams."

"Andi took a floor for the household staff, so having your guys here won't be any different."

Tammy came back and slid a tablet over in front of each of them. Ronin looked down at his, and Cisco said. "I'll do it. I've got a couple smaller ones over in my quarters that will work better for us anyway. I'll show you how to use one later."

Ronin nodded and pushed the tablet away.

"Put your guys on thirty-two up to thirty-four, that will give you room for growth. You two take the suites on the next floor down from us." She said.

Cisco nodded, and looked over at Ronin. "How many people do you have picked out so far for the guard? And how were you going to schedule them?"

"We've found twenty-eight so far, Amelia wanted to bring in some of the special forces guys, but I don't trust them." Ronin said. "We talked about two teams of three on eight hour shifts."

"I don't trust them either, they don't have any reason to be loyal yet." Cisco said. "But I'd go with a six hour shift. There's going to be a lot of standing around on this job, and that wears you down fast. Plus we want some time for training, and still keep it under a ten or twelve hour day."

He looked at Carter again. "Can that porter out there be locked out?" He asked.

"It is, you have to have an access code, and know the symbols for it." She said.

"And how many people have access codes?"

"I'd have to look." She said. "The senior staff, Daniel, Vala and Chuck. Call it a dozen."

"I'd like to take that down to two. You and Lady Tammy." He said. "Everyone else can go through a security checkpoint on a lower floor and come up in the elevator. You should know who wants to come up, what they want, and approve it before they come up."

"I wanted to do that, but they didn't like it." Ronin said.

"They'll get used to it." Cisco said. "Besides adding a layer of security, it ensures them a little privacy. There's no reason for people to walk in and out of here anytime they want."

"We might not miss as many meals that way." Sam said. "Next?"

"Call your med bay. I think Tammy is bleeding." He said as he stood up and moved around the table, kneeling beside her chair. Lifting her scrub shirt, he nodded when he saw blood spotting the bandage.

"Put your arm around my neck." He told her as he put his arm behind her back.

She pushed him away and got to her feet. "I can walk, and do you really think you're going to lift me with those ribs?" She laughed. She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. "But thank you."

Ronin led them to the elevator and they went back down to the med bay. Susan was waiting for them, and she got Tammy up on a table and cut her shirt off. She was cutting the bandage off when Jennifer walked in.

"I thought I told you to take it easy." Keller said. She waited while Susan cleaned the wound, then stepped closer to look at it. "You didn't tear the stitches, this blood is coming from inside."

She looked at Sam, then back at Tammy. "I'm sorry, I must have missed something. We're going to have to take her back over to the infirmary. I can't do what I need to do here."

Sam turned and looked at Cisco. "How did you know?"

"She was quiet, not as lively, and I noticed that she was getting pale. And I saw it on her shirt."

They got Tammy laid out on the bed and wheeled it out to the porter. Cisco stopped at the door, and looked at Ronin. "Can you cover this? I need to touch base with Col. Sheppard, and I'd like to talk to Dr. Samuels again."

He looked over at Carter. "Is that okay with you?"

"That's fine, just stay on comms. And plan on doing dinner with us."

He nodded as he stepped back and watched the porter doors close.

Interior-Marine Barracks, Central Tower

1600 Hours

"Second squad, front and center." Cisco called out as he stepped into the bay.

The men assembled quickly, coming over to stand in front of him.

Before they could say anything, he said, "Come with me." then turned and walked out of the bay. Leading them down the corridor, he stopped at a storage room, opened the door and looked inside, then stepped in, waving them in behind him.

Closing the door after the last one, he turned to face them.

"Where the hell have you been, Cisco? And why are you in your civvies?" One of them asked.

Cisco held up his hand, and looked at them for a minute. "I'm being transferred to the house guard. I'm going to be working for Ronin Dex." He said. "But I need to talk to you about what happened this morning."

"Yeah, what the hell happened in there?" Wilson asked. "And where's my flak jacket?"

"Shut up, and listen to me, all of you." Cisco said, a hard edge in his voice. "Have any of you talked about what happened this morning, to anyone?"

They all shook their heads. He looked at them carefully, then nodded and went on.

"If anyone asks you what happened this morning, and I guarantee they will, you tell them that an intruder came through the gate, we took him out, and the colonel dismissed you and sent you back to your quarters."

He paused again, letting them absorb what he was saying.

"The video from the gateroom and the detention center has been deleted, so there's no official record of what happened. But I'm putting all of you up for commendations anyway. There's six of us, and he had fifteen bullets in him. We put him down good."

"What happened in there Cisco?" Wilson asked. "She went in there with your knife in her hand, and we heard Ronin's cannon going off."

"And she looked like she had skinned a whale when she came out. I ain't never seen that mu..."

"Shut up! Just shut the fuck up!" He said softly "This is what's gonna cause a problem. You saw a couple things, but you don't know what happened in the middle. I do, and I'm gonna tell you right now, I was proud to be standing beside her."

"No one else, not even your grandkids fifty years from now can ever hear about what you saw this morning. I asking you as a friend, and a fellow marine, keep this to yourselves. It's best for everyone. Running your mouths about it will only hurt the queens, and the city."

"Did she send you down here?" Wilson asked.

Cisco shook his head. "She doesn't know I'm here. They had to take Lady Tammy back to the infirmary, Keller missed something when they worked on her earlier."

"What happened to your hand?" Wilson asked. "You looked fine earlier."

Cisco grinned. "I had to audition for the job. I kicked the shit outta Ronin, then Master Bra'tac gave me a lesson in Jaffa dirty tricks." He lifted his t-shirt, showing them his ribs.

"You sure about what you're getting yourself into, Cisco?" Wilson asked.

"No, but they're good people, and I like what they've done so far." He said. "And I want to help them."

"Okay, we'll do it your way, but just so we know, who's gonna come asking?" Wilson said.

"Samuels, the foreign minister, maybe Caldwell. It won't be Sheppard." He told them. "She worked me over earlier, and he was pushing the colonel. They know less than you do, so just be cool, and don't volunteer anything."

Interior-Col. Sheppard's Office, East Tower

1630 Hours

"You're out of uniform, Carter." Sheppard said as he stood up and came from behind his desk. "You still work for me."

"Yes sir, Col. Carter told me to report in civvies, and this is all I have." Cisco said, coming to attention.

"Relax, I'm kidding. I already signed your discharge papers." Sheppard said as he held out his hand. "What did she call you, Cisco?"

"Yes sir, it a long story."

"Make it short." Caldwell said from behind him. "And when you're done with that one, tell us what the hell happened this morning, and why she made you a knight."

"An intruder came through the gate and we took him out sir."

"I suppose your squad is going to say the same thing." Caldwell said.

"Yes sir."

"Give it a rest Stephen," Sheppard said. "If anything else happened, the colonel has a good reason for not telling us. Need to know. Personally, I believe him."

"Okay, I just don't like being left out of the loop." Caldwell said, getting to his feet.

"There's a lot of loops Stephen, you can't be in all of them." Sheppard laughed.

"You got that right." Caldwell said as he walked toward the door. "Teyla says we're doing dinner with them tonight, you going?

"Lady Tammy had to go back to the infirmary, they missed something when they worked on her this morning." Cisco told him.

"And?"

"That's all I know, they haven't called me yet."

Caldwell just looked at him, them looked passed him at Sheppard behind him. "I'll be in my office, John." He said, then turned and walked away.

"Close the door, and have a seat." Sheppard said, pulling a chair over and dropping into it. "He's not a bad guy once you get to know him, it just takes a while. Give him a little time."

"Yes sir."

"You can call me John, or Sheppard." He laughed. "But that's going to take a little time too."

Sheppard leaned back in his chair, stretching his legs out in front of him. "I saw the video from the gateroom and the detention center. Was that your pig sticker she was hitting him with?"

"Yeah, it was better for what she was gonna do than was she was gonna use. She didn't use the end I was expecting though."

"Yeah, she has her own way of doing things, that's for sure." Sheppard said. He looked over at Cisco. "You understand what really happened this morning, don't you?"

"Yes sir, we killed them."

"She killed them, and I'm glad she did."

"No, we did it. I knew what she was going to do when we went back up to her suite, and I let her do it. Then I went down and stood with her while she called him out." Cisco said

Sheppard nodded. "Now I see why she knighted you. What happened to your hand?"

"Master Bra'tac gave me a lesson in Jaffa dirty tricks." Cisco grinned. "Dinged my ribs up pretty good too."

"How about Ronin?"

"I don't think I hurt him too bad. Well, maybe his pride." Cisco said. "We're good. But tell me something, does he know how to read?"

"Some, but not alot. We need to do something about that." Sheppard said.

"Does he have the ancient gene?"

"I don't know. Let me look." Sheppard got up and went over to his desk, bringing up a file on his laptop, he entered Ronin's name in the search field and waited.

"It doesn't look like he's every been tested." He said.

He keyed his comm as he stood up. "Sheppard to Ronin."

"Ronin."

"Is the colonel with you, and are you still in the infirmary?"

"Yeah, I think they're about to bring Tammy out of surgery. I'll get the colonel." Ronin said.

A moment later, Carter came on. "Yes, John?"

"How's Tammy?"

"I'm waiting for Jennifer, they're not out yet."

"Okay. I don't have a record of Ronin ever being tested for the ancient gene. Can we get that done while you're there?"

"Sure, what made you think of that?"

"I didn't, Cisco did right after he asked me if Ronin could read."

"Okay, I'll take care of that while we're waiting for Tammy and Jenn. That all?"

"Yes ma'am. Call me when you know something?"

"Of course. Carter out."

He closed the channel and looked over at Cisco. "Tammy is still in surgery, and the colonel is going to have Ronin tested. You got any other ideas you want to throw out? You're on a roll."

"There's only twenty-eight guards so far, not enough for two three man teams per shift." Cisco said. "It didn't hit me till after they had left, so I haven't mentioned it to Ronin. But we could go with two man teams augmented by marines, at least until we get the guard up to strength."

"We can do that. Let's talk to Ronin about it tonight." Sheppard said. "I need to get him over for a beer, I've been neglecting our friendship. What else?"

"I heard Ronin got captured and taken back to Sateda, and killed a boss Wraith there." Cisco said slowly.

"Actually, it was Dr. Beckett that killed him, with a drone." Sheppard said

"Do you know if the Wraith are occupying that planet?"

"I don't think so, they took him back there so they could hunt him again. They meant to kill him that time. Why?"

"I was just wondering if there's anymore of those hand cannons Ronin carries laying around. Maybe some other stuff." Cisco said. "From what I hear, his people were fairly technologically advanced."

Sheppard just stared at him, then shook his head.

"You've been working for me for two years, and I'm just now hearing about this stuff?"

Cisco shrugged. "I'm just a grunt, colonel. I've mentioned it to people a few times. I just never heard anything else about it."

"You're not a grunt anymore, you're senior staff now." Sheppard said seriously. "If you get an idea, talk to someone else on the senior staff, or go right to the queens, you're going to have their ear. It sounds like you have some interesting ideas, and we need all of those that we can get."

Interior-Conference Room, North Tower

1740 Hours

"Jennifer is going to keep Tammy overnight in the infirmary." Carter said as she looked around the table. "They missed something this morning, and she lost about a pint of blood. There's some other problems now as a result." She paused, wringing her hands in her lap. "They have Jacob over there too. He's okay, but Jenn still wants to observe him for a few days, because he's so young."

"Are you going to be okay, Samantha?" Vala asked. "You can stay with us tonight, so you don't have to be alone."

"Thank you, Vala. I'd like that." Sam said. "I have some things I want to talk to you both about, so we can do that too."

She looked around the table again, her eyes finally settling on Samuels.

"Andi, we were talking earlier, and Ronin's team is going to be making some changes in the residence." She said. "I want Ronin and Cisco moved into the suites on forty-three, and three floors blocked out for their guards. Those people should be close, just like the household staff."

"That's a good idea." Samuels said. "Does it matter where? There are several large conference rooms around that building that they can use as assembly areas, or do you want them above thirty-one?"

"Get with Ronin and Cisco about that, show them what you have, and the three of you decide." Carter said. She looked over at Cisco, then spoke to the group.

"We're also changing the access to our suite. You won't be able to port right in anymore, I've already disabled all the codes." She said. "From now on, you'll come out at a security checkpoint on thirty-one, and only allowed up with approval."

Heads nodded around the table, but no one said anything.

"We found out today that Ronin had never been tested for the ancient gene, we had him tested, and as luck would have it, he has it." She said, smiling down at him. "He's been treated with the therapy, and it worked. Teyla is being tested right now, with luck, she'll have it too."