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~~~***~~~
Jake was ready. They'd had a plan, and then tossed it out. Instead, opting for a completely different thing they were calling Option B. It would be better than Plan A. All his thoughts of plans and options went to the back of Jake's mind, mostly, when he was beamed down to Atlantis. If his backpack hadn't been hooked around his shoulder he would have dropped it. He stood there like all the other newbies to Atlantis, mouth hung open and speechless. The pictures had not given him even a tenth of what the city really was all about. This place was so shiny. It was geek mecca. It was beautiful. And that Ancient gene the nurse had been so happy about was almost itching. Jake wanted to reach out and pet the walls. This was going to be fun.
Cougar's soft chuckle broke him out of his I'm in geek heaven thoughts.
"Shall we try this again," Lorne said, grinning. "Colonel Sheppard, Dr. McKay, this is Jake Jensen and Carlos Alvarez, two of our new civilian contractors." And even Jake could hear the quotes around the word civilian.
"Miko's new project, slash the almost successful hacker." McKay gave him a once over, glared at the black shirt with a bright glowing arc reactor in the chest for a second before shrugging. "Nice shirt."
Jake grinned and shoved his hands into his pockets, rocking back on his heels. "Thanks! Would have broken through had Dr. K's program not trapped me in that quadrant. Came up with a workaround should that ever happen again." He halted and shrugged, he'd already sent Dr. Kusanagi the workaround and figured he'd be getting another "homework" assignment of building a fix for it.
McKay raised an eyebrow. "You'll be getting more homework then. Don't make her cry."
"McKay," Sheppard admonished.
"What?"
"You made her cry the other day."
McKay glared. "I did not. Did I? No, wait, I didn't. I made the herbist...biologist," he waved his hand around, "whatever that new guy is, cry but he was being stupid. I saw Miko laughing in that polite, quiet manner of hers."
Jake was almost positive the Colonel had just rolled his eyes at McKay's response before asking his next question. Which if Jake was right, Sheppard knew it would set McKay off again.
"Parrish's new person?"
"No. Though I don't know his name either and he's not going to make it here very long. Because seriously, Miko made that man cry. How is it that Parrish is the only one in Botany with a backbone." McKay turned to glare at Lorne. "That your doing?"
Lorne grinned. "How about I get these guys settled, Sir? Then maybe Cougar here will give you a demonstration of our new acquisitions." Lorne asked, avoiding McKay's question. "The General and Doctor Jackson are in the next group," he added.
"Go away, Lorne," Sheppard responded, grinning. "The putting alcove in two hours."
Jake didn't know what that meant exactly but followed Lorne through the corridors and into what looked like an elevator. There was a brief flash of light and when the doors opened they were in another corridor. This one had plants and couches in a small niche by the transporter and doors at regular intervals on either side of the hall.
"Transporters," Jake said, bouncing on his toes. "This place totally rocks."
"They were in the video," Cougar reminded him. "And we've already done the whole beaming thing. Twice."
Jake spun on his heel to stare at Cougar. "You are downgrading my geek high. Stop."
Cougar chuckled and stepped around him to continue after Lorne. Jake followed but glanced at the small electronic nameplates by all the doors. Most only had one name and none seemed to have more than two. He and Cougar had been asked if they wanted separate quarters but they'd both answered no at the same time so it wasn't a surprise to see their names on the same plate. It was a surprise to see that Dr. K was just down the hall from them.
Lorne opened the door and then showed them how to lock the entrance to just themselves. "Your things should be here within twenty and I'll swing back by in ninety for the little demo. I'm hoping to get a reaction out of Ronon who has not been all that impressed with Earth weaponry," Lorne said, acknowledging the case that Cougar had beamed down with.
Jake looked around their quarters. It was huge. "Thank you," he heard Cougar say, followed by Lorne's quiet chuckle before the doors softly swished shut.
The two of them had been comfortable in the tiny quarters on the Apollo. This was like sharing a luxury suite at a hotel or something. The room was portioned simply by the way the furniture was arranged.
There was a small sofa, a coffee table, and a chair immediately to the left of the door while to the right there were two desks. Just past the desks was a small table with two chairs. The back half of the room was filled with typical bedroom furniture just multiplied by two. There was a door on the left wall he guessed led to the bathroom and a large stained glass window on the right.
Cougar's only request for their quarters was to have a window. Though the stain glass didn't let them look out, it did keep the amount of natural light down to a livable level. "Too bad we can't see out," Jensen said.
Before he'd finished his thought the colored glass cleared. "Holy shit, Cougs! Did you see that?"
"Yes."
Jake noticed a seam running down the glass that he had not spotted before and a clear panel to the side of the glass. He took a step closer and waved his hand over the panel. The glass parted.
"Umm, Cougs. It looks like Lorne scored you a balcony. I mean the view is mostly just another one of the towers, but balcony."
Jake stepped out on the balcony in time to see one of the puddlejumpers fly around the towers to a lower level and disappear. "Spaceships," he whispered in awe again. "Awesome."
Cougar stepped out onto the balcony next to him and tilted his head up towards the sky for a moment before opening his hand to reveal an earpiece. "It is coded for you," Cougar said quietly.
He took the headset and looked at it closely. Examining each side. Cougar lifted his other hand to reveal a post-it note that said: Mr. Jensen- Please do not take apart. One in lab for you to do so. -Dr. Kusanagi
Jake huffed but put the piece in his hear. He heard a soft click as it activated and then nothing. It was super light and he could barely feel it. "Cool."
"Yes." And Jake could hear the amusement in Cougar's voice.
The chime for the door sounded and both walked back into their quarters. Jake waved his hand over the panel and thought the glass looked to be colored again. He looked over his shoulder and grinned. This city was amazing and he wasn't ever going to get over that fact.
~~~***~~~
They had followed Lorne to one of the outlaying towers and an alcove that faced out into the ocean. There were buckets of golf balls and several golf clubs. That's when Jake got it. "Putting area" actually meant just that.
"How do you get the golf balls back?"
"O'Neill sent us special golf balls. They float and one of the jumpers skims the surface for them. Unless one of the SEAL teams pisses off the Colonel and then there's normally a special training session that involves them swimming out to retrieve them."
Lorne handed Jake a pair of binoculars and hit a button on a small laptop. "You can see them floating out around the distance markers that are coming out of the water now." They didn't want the markers leading an enemy ship to the city when it was cloaked.
"I had a crew go out and add a few more. Half a mile or so distance is the furthest," Lorne added. "The orange centers will explode when your bullet connects with the target."
Jake watched as Cougar opened the rifle case and took out the unattached scope before stepping out onto the ledge. He wasn't sure what Cougar saw or felt when he scoped out targets just that it worked.
Cougar stepped back and nodded at Lorne before kneeling to assemble his rifle. The silencer was twisted on just as Sheppard and Ronon entered the alcove.
"Any particular position or order?" Cougar asked.
"Nah," Sheppard responded. "Just show us what has Lorne all excited."
Cougar knelt on the floor with one leg up, picked up his rifle and aimed. Less than five minutes later with only eight shots fired all seven targets had exploded.
"Quieter than your other guns," Ronon said. "Nice range too."
Lorne grinned and Jake could see the man controlling the unprofessional urge to bounce on his feet.
Sheppard was nodding his head. "Park you in a tree near the gate to provide cover. Can you take out a flying vehicle?"
"If I know what to shoot," was Cougar's answer.
Then Atlantis was plunged into darkness as all but emergency systems shut down.
"Colonel," Zelenka said calmly over the comms, "Rodney and Daniel have broken city again."
"We have not," came the dual response.
"You are locked in room with controls, yes?"
There was silence.
"Controls no longer work, yes?"
Sheppard interrupted them before the argument could get out of hand and asked, "I'm on my way to where exactly?"
"Tower Five, Sub-floor Two."
"Copy. We're on our way and someone find the General. He was going fishing out on one of the piers," Sheppard ordered. "And gentlemen," Sheppard said glancing back to Jake and Cougar when he got to the door, "Welcome to Atlantis."