• Carrie
• Lady Anne
• The Libran Iniquity

~~*~~

"Jansen, we're going to need a full blood workup," Janet Fraiser called. She had absolutely no idea what was going on at the moment, she just knew one member of SG-1 had passed out on the ramp and another looked like he had nearly bled out The craziest thing about *that* was that the only wound she had seen on Daniel what she assumed was a cut on his palm. The bloody bandage covering said wound had yet to be removed. With Sam out of it (and also suffering from a cut to her thigh) and Daniel nearly so, she had no way of knowing what had become of Colonel O'Neill and Teal'c. She did know that it couldn't be good news. She sought General Hammond's gaze briefly, and it was only to shake her head. He looked grim as he stepped further out of the way. "Looks like we're also going to need fresh blood to put back *in* him."

And so it went for a whirlwind half an hour. Chaos that only impacted about thirty percent of her time. The truth of her life here at the SGC was that she enjoyed the boring old day to day routines and paperwork more than the trauma cases and alien bugs. Of course no one really enjoyed a trauma, but the SGC certainly brought her challenges and she *did* enjoy that aspect of them. That was a generality; there were some of the more mysterious trauma cases that she didn't enjoy at even that intellectual level so much as she had to work to stay ahead of her fear. Her primary fear now wasn't for her patients, but for the two missing members of SG1. Janet snapped off her latex gloved and then ran her sweaty hands down the front of her lab coat. It was time to tell General Hammond that she still didn't know much of anything.

No, that wasn't true. She didn't know nothing. Janet did know there was some kind of toxin in both Sam and Daniel's bloodstreams. She thought at one point it had been the same poison in both of them. Daniel's injury was older than Sam's, and the alien stuff in his blood was...older as well. She didn't know how it had morphed or how to treat either version. She hoped she could sustain Daniel by transfusion and using Advate, rAHF-PFM, and she really hoped Sam didn't start succumbing to the alien toxin in the same almost hemophiliac way as Daniel. There were too many ifs in her head right now; physicians couldn't rely on ifs and hopes. She sighed and looked up to the observation booth. General Hammond stared down at her patients.

"Everything's stable for now," she said, gaining the general's attention. Janet nervously ran a hand through her hair, as if to make sure every piece was in its place. Her hair was about the only thing she could control at this point. Stable, right. She could tell the general didn't believe her, and since she didn't even believe herself she didn't really find fault with that. She also suspected he already knew what she was about to tell him. "Without knowing what happened on that planet, I'm reluctant to send a rescue team to find Colonel O'Neill and Teal'c. If we do that, sir, we could be looking at the whole infirmary filled with people whose blood won't clot."

The general's lips tightened to form a thin white line that slashed across his face, but he nodded. Janet hated this helpless feeling. It was one thing to deal with alien illnesses, poisons, devices and whatever, but it was another thing completely to be held at a standstill. Research and tests took time she didn't know they had. If the colonel or Teal'c had injuries and that's why they weren't with Daniel and Sam, then they might already be dead.

Oh, she really didn't want to think about that. Because without medical treatment, she was fairly certain Daniel would have been dead long before stepping through the Stargate. Which, she realized, made no sense whatsoever and she thought maybe she was a little touched in the head for even thinking it. Janet heard a throat being cleared. She looked toward the observation booth, but General Hammond was no longer there. Huh.

"Uhm..." Oh, oh...that wasn't a throat being cleared. Janet shook herself out of her momentary stupor and turned to Sam's gurney. About half a second later, she heard someone rush into the room. With any desperately needed luck, Sam was actually regaining consciousness. Janet watched the monitors as Sam's heart rate increased as though she were running. Or frightened. She reached for Sam's hand and squeezed. Sam's eyes opened a crack. "Urgh."

"Relax, Sam, just try to relax." Janet's words were superfluous. It didn't appear that Sam was going to get much more conscious than she'd already got. For her patient, that was probably for the best, but for her friend it wasn't. She tapped Sam on the breastbone a couple of times, trying to rouse her enough to speak. "Hey, Sam, don't go back to sleep just yet. I need you tell me what happened. Think you can do that?"

"Nuh...nu," Sam said. Her eyes were bleary in a way Janet really didn't like. Whatever awareness Sam had achieved, it wasn't going to last no matter how much she coaxed. She saw General Hammond step closer. "Pl-ant. In vest pocket. Help them, help - they're bleeding too much. East...east of gate. Daniel?"

All Janet managed was to soften her gaze in preparation to tell Sam about Daniel's condition before the bleary blue of Sam's eyes changed to white. Half a second later, Sam seized and Janet's life was once again thrown into life-or-death chaos. The seizure wasn't the worst she had ever witnessed, but coming so soon after the initial rush in, she found herself uncharacteristically harried. This was one more symptom she needed to note after Sam was out of the woods. True to form, her staff came running when they hear the wail of the monitors.

Promptness of medical aid was irrelevant; almost as soon as her aids reached the room, Sam stopped seizing. There weren't many things where an anti-climactic end was a good thing. This was one of them, Janet thought, and her job would be so much easier if everything solved itself. She'd also be out of a job. She blew out a breath and looked at the general for a second before re-checking Sam's vitals. Everything was back to normal.

Or at least back to normal for being sick. Janet hesitated to leave Sam's side - she could make an educated guess at what would happen next. Sam would wake up and start bleeding all over. She raised a hand, pointer finger up, at General Hammond, to stave off an inquiry she saw written all over his expression. She needed to get to the containment bin to retrieve Sam's vest. Finding a permanent solution would be easier once she found the source of the ailment, never mind that it would lend significant aid to a rescue party. The general didn't object to her abrupt behavior, but he did watch her closely as she rummaged through the bin carefully. She didn't want to make herself her next patient. She raised the vest up.

"Lay it out for me, Doctor," General Hammond said. She didn't have the first clue what he expected her to tell him. From the moment Sam and Daniel had stumbled back into the SGC, only forty-five minutes had passed. "Tell me what we need to do to get a rescue party out there."

Every bit of her wished she had a definitive answer to that, but she didn't know. She could only do what she had just done in predicting Sam's symptoms and make an educated guess. Everyone on the base had to do that on so many occasions. That very thought frightened her if she let herself think about it too much. She toyed with the vest pocket.

"Only as many on the team as is absolutely necessary, and at least half of them capable of field med. Two doses of Advate at the minimum; I'd prefer onsite transfusion, but that's pushing it," Janet said, running through her mental checklist. "Everyone should wear environmental suits, or very thick clothing and headgear. ATVs to expedite the return trip and a *full* understanding of what to look for. I wish we knew what the plant itself looked like, but we'll at least have what is apparently the primary source."

"None of that is an problem as far as I can tell. I'll leave you to gather as much information as you can about the plant while I pull the rescue team together." General Hammond glanced at Sam and Daniel again. She didn't blame him. In cases like this, it was sometimes difficult to resist the urge to make sure the patients weren't going anywhere. "I don't want to pressure you, but is fifteen minutes enough time?"

"It'll have to be," Janet said. Fifteen minutes was forever. She imagined O'Neill and Teal'c bleeding out all over a strange planet, dead in a pool of red. "I'll be up as soon as I have something." Janet waved the vest in the air and wondered which pocket the culprit was in.

Checking Sam and Daniel's stats one more time, relieved to find them unchanged, Janet then moved to the phone. She would love to be the hero here and save her friends, but botany was not her specialty. She had five ailing houseplants at home to prove that. She, and they, needed Doctor Honeycutt, and she hoped he could work damned fast. For the time being, all she really needed was to get a picture of what the rescue team should look for. She paged Honeycutt and took the vest to the iso room workstation. She began opening the vest pockets one by one, her attention often returning to her friends. Their continued unconsciousness was more bothersome than most of their other symptoms, she thought crazily.

Pocket number three yielded results. Standard rubber cloves didn't look thick enough to withstand the prickly thorns protruding from a relatively small circular pod. She thought of Daniel's torn fingertips, and reached for her largest pair of forceps. Better safe than sorry was always a good motto. She gripped the pod carefully and pulled it out of the pocket. Aside from the blood coating it, it didn't really look that terrible. It wasn't something a person would be drawn to but not something to avoid completely either. It was as innocuous looking as a large cocklebur.

Only it had more of a bite than that, Janet reminded herself. There was significant enough length to the forceps that she didn't really have to worry about it. She didn't have time to fully document the pod as she'd like and as was customary procedure. Oh, well.

When Doctor Honeycutt arrived, Janet had already taken multiple photos and thought she was as prepared as she could be to give a down-and-dirty briefing. She imparted said briefing on her botanical colleague, checked Sam and Daniel one last time and then made a dash for the briefing room. She was reluctant to leave them, yet she couldn't move fast enough. 

Every minute counted when it came to the colonel and Teal'c's well being.

"Ready to go, sir," Janet said as she entered the briefing room. Her lungs only reminded her of how fast she had traveled after she stopped moving, but they were just going to have to do with reduced oxygen for a little bit longer. She didn't even look around the room to see who was among the rescue party. At General Hammond's minute hand gesture, she began to speak. "All I have are photos. With Haz Mat suits on, you shouldn't really have to worry about possible infection, but I would still urge extreme caution if you see anything that looks similar. Don't take risks. Go in, administer the Advate and transport Colonel O'Neill and Teal'c home as quickly as possible."

"Ma'am, yes, Ma'am," Major Griff said. Good, Griff was a good man. He'd get the job done as expeditiously as was necessary. "Let's suit up."

Once Griff and company, which she was grateful included several of whom she had utmost confidence in their medical skill. She allowed herself a deep breath and then walked over to the big window to watch their departure. The embarkation room was bustling with activity before the rescue team even hit the cold concrete floor. Janet felt General Hammond move to stand at her side. She knew he normally observed the departure of a team in the control room, and
she was glad he made the exception here.

Niggling worry ate away at her insides as surely as the toxin was eating away at Sam and Daniel's…and the colonel and Teal'c's…health. Neither circumstance was acceptable, but she allowed herself a moment to be human before she had to return to being a physician. The `gate burst to life and settled into a giant blue eye gazing back up at them, wintry and unrepentant for causing so many bad things. For causing this one bad thing. Griff waved from down below. She thought it was Griff. From up here, the team looked like identical extras from a disaster movie set.

"Get them home safe," General Hammond said even though he didn't have the microphone to speak into. He turned to her. "Tell me what you think the chances Colonel O'Neill and Teal'c are still alive are." 

Every ounce of her being wished he hadn't asked her that question, and every ounce of her being wished she could be more optimistic than she actually was. She looked away. The wormhole shut down.

"Really good," Janet lied.

TTFN

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Medical Imperatives
By Lady Anne

Janet waited anxiously at the foot of the ramp, her bag clutched in her hand. Glancing at the marines waiting beside her, she was envious to find them calm and seemingly ready for anything. Her own palms were sweaty and her heart was beating a wild tattoo inside her chest. It should have made her feel better to have them standing next to her, somehow it didn’t. Nothing about the situation felt right. No one knew what they were walking into exactly, just that they had received an aborted message from Colonel O’Neill indicating their need for help – stat. With SG-1 that could mean almost anything, that was why she accompanied the contingent of marines that made up the search and rescue team.

As the first contact team, SG-1 encountered new things and people every day – things and people that weren’t always friendly and it was Janet’s job to put them back together again when they came home in less than perfect shape. She’d never told anyone, but it was her worst fear that someday she wasn’t going to be able to do that. She would wake in the middle of the night in a cold sweat from nightmares where the bodies of her friends lay in front of her, broken and bleeding, and she had forgotten how to stitch them back together.

Now she just needed to get through the gate and find out what had happened so she could do something about it. She bounced on the balls of her feet as the gate dialed. It seemed to take forever for the chevrons to click and the gate to circle around again, but at last the seventh chevron locked into place and the gate whooshed open. She glanced up behind her at the control room where the General stood. His jaw was clenched tight and even from where she stood she could see the worry in his eyes. He nodded at her and he didn’t have to speak for her to know her orders, ‘Bring them home alive.’ That was her intention.

Exiting the gate on PV9-433, Janet surveyed the planet. It was sunny and green, the MALP sat innocently beside the gate, waiting for SG-1’s return. There was no sign of whatever catastrophe had befallen SG-1. She sighed, it would just be too easy for them to find a note from Jack O’Neill waiting for them, ‘please turn right at tall oak to find the remains of SG-1.’ No, they were going to have to do it the hard way.

Trying not to tap her foot in impatience, Janet stood idly by while the marines scouted the site for any sign of which direction SG-1 had gone. The marines were good at their jobs, Janet knew that, they would find their missing comrades; then her job would begin. She worked hard to not let her imagination get away from her, it was no use speculating on what might have happened to her friends. That would use up energy she was going to need all too soon. She had a sixth sense where SG-1 was concerned and it was telling her that it was bad this time.

"Over here," one of the marines called softly. Martins was his name, she remembered. She’d just done his yearly exam. He was a nice man with brown eyes that crinkled when he smiled. Right now his eyes reflected grim determination as he called out for them to follow him. Several of their company started up the trail, following the footprints in the dirt that Martins had found. Janet fell in with the rest of the company surrounding her. The marines were alert and at the ready for whatever might be waiting for them.

Unsure where they were going or what was waiting for them, the company moved slowly, stopping often to scout the area, looking for hidden dangers. Janet chaffed at the restriction, even knowing it was necessary. She imagined all the things that could be happening to SG-1. Time was of the essence, it could be the difference between bringing them home alive or just retrieving their bodies for burial.

Refusing to even think of the possibility, Janet marched stolidly along. One mile and then two were gone and they found so sign of the team. She wondered what SG-1 had found to interest them in the seemingly peaceful planet? Of course Daniel was interested in every new planet they discovered and would explore with no more encouragement than the sheer love of exploration, but the colonel would have to have something more tangible to bring them so far from the gate. The initial mission report showed extremely high Naquadah content in the soil which would excite Sam, but it also increased the chances that there would be Jaffa in the area. It was a mystery they weren’t likely to solve until they found the missing SG-1.

Nudging her elbow with one hand, Martins held up the other to stop their company. "Captain Carter took soil samples here," he told them, squatting to inspect the smudged dirt more closely. Janet studied the spot and imagined she could see the indention in the earth where the sample case had rested, dusty impressions where Sam had knelt to do her work. The scuffs around her would be the colonel and Teal’c as they kept watch while she worked. The clear boot prints in the dust next to where the case had sat could only be Daniel as he assisted Sam in her task. It was such a mundane scene Janet pictured in her head. How did it lead to the message they had received, "We need back up and a med team stat!" Her thoughts were scattered when Martens stood, running his boot through the dust, obliterating the traces that SG-1 had left. With a curt nod he gestured them onward.

Ahead of them the land was starting to rise into gently rolling hills that was dotted with trees that grew tall and broad. Gradually the trees thickened into a forest and they could no longer see what lay beyond the path they walked or what lay ahead of them. SG-1 could be over the next rise, or they could find the same fate that had befallen SG-1. The marines slowed their pace even more, waiting until a scout returned with the all clear before they would start up the next rise. Janet felt totally useless as she kept pace with the soldiers, frowning whenever they slowed or paused for any reason.

Praying was the only thing she could do for SG-1. It seemed strange to her that even though their business was exposing the Goa’uld as false gods, she still prayed whenever there was a crisis. She’d seen too many things in her years as a doctor that couldn’t be explained by science and were only covered by faith. So she prayed. She prayed that they would get to SG-1 in time, that one more time they would have a miraculous escape from certain death, that her skills as a physician wouldn’t fail her or her friends who depended on her.

One of their scouts appeared over the ridge. He went straight to Martens. She couldn’t hear what he said from where she was standing but Janet could see that he was agitated. He spoke quietly to Martins, who cast a quick glance in her direction. She moved to their side.

"Leevy, tell the Doc what you saw," Martens ordered.

Everyone’s eyes were on them now. The man, Leevy, took a deep breath and spoke, "I found SG-1. They’re just over the rise, ma’am." Janet started to speak, but he hurried on, answering her unspoken question, "It’s bad, ma’am. They’re down and there’s lots of blood." Janet blanched, but he continued as if he had to get it all out quickly. "The natives have them pinned down inside a circle of rocks. I can’t really tell how badly injured they are or even if they’re all still alive. We’ve got to get them out quick, sir, that’s all I know." Around her, the soldiers stood, ready for orders, their bodies fairly thrumming with the need to move, to act, to do.

Only a lifetime spent in the discipline of the Air Force kept Janet from running over the hill to the aid of her friends. From what Leevy had just said, she knew they needed her. She had to do something, yet she knew that running headlong into the situation that had endangered them, wouldn’t help SG-1. It would probably just get her killed, too.

No, not killed. They couldn’t be dead. SG-1 couldn’t die, it was a legend at the SGC that SG-1 would always return. There was a time or two in the beginning when hope had been lost, but now they had returned from impossible circumstances so many times that there was a betting pool whenever they disappeared as to how long it would take them to make it home and what shape they’d been in when they came.

Impossible situations seemed to be what SG-1 thrived on. Janet just hoped that this one would have a happy ending. She watched unhappily as Martens dispersed his men. They crept away over the hill, scouting the situation and finding out what intel they could. Finally he gave a nod to her and she followed as he stepped off the path to disappear among the trees.

Creeping behind Martens, Janet was aware of every snapping twig underfoot and every bird calling overhead. Everything around her was preternaturally quiet and hours seemed to go by as she followed the marine, his back ever in front of her. Finally they stopped and he allowed her to look, pointing out SG-1’s position. She couldn’t believe what she saw. Only a feet from where she stood she could see where SG-1 lay inside a circle of stones. She could see them clearly, the colonel was even laying with his face in their direction, one arm tucked under him, the other stretched out, almost as if he was reaching out to them. They were all four there, even Teal’c lying absolutely still, face down in the dirt. The ground beneath them was soaked, with blood she suspected, although she saw no visible wounds on their bodies. Her stomach twisted and she took a step from the shelter of the huge tree trunk. A shot rang out and pinged off the bark next to her cheek, sending little splinters of wood flying.

Pulling her back, Martens pushed her down angrily, "What are you trying to do? Get yourself killed? You won’t be any good to them that way," he hissed in her ear. Janet pressed a hand to her cheek where a splinter of bark had hit her, the blood trickling down her chin. The small spot stung, telling her she was lucky it wasn’t much worse. She blinked at the marine and couldn’t explain why she’d done what she’d done. The doctor in her cried out that she had to get to her patients, they needed her and there was no time to waste.

Only there was no way she could get to them. Whatever had happened here, the natives were definitely not friendly and they weren’t going to let a rescue team get near. She risked another glance around the tree keeping her head low. She found the colonel’s eyes open and boring into hers. He was still alive at least, that was good to know. He mouthed something at her, but she couldn’t decide what. His eyes were terrible, she could see the pain and the anger reflected there.

Whatever had happened, it was up to her to help her friends. This time she moved quickly so Martens wouldn’t have time to stop her. She stepped away from the safety of the tree, her hands held high. There was a warning shot that pinged off the tree, but she didn’t let it deter her. She took one step, then another, each step bringing her closer to her patients. Behind her she heard Martens curse then step away from the tree, she heard as the rest of the marines left the safety of their own positions to protect her. She saw the natives of the planet as they left their own positions. Most of them had their weapons trained on SG-1, but there was enough of them trained on herself and the marines. If this turned into a blood bath it was going to be her fault.

"Everyone just calm down," she called out in her best professional voice, the one she used with stubborn colonels and reluctant archeologists. All eyes were now on her and she knew that this was it. They were all going to live or die in this moment. "These people are my patients," she indicated SG-1, "and I will not just stand by and watch them die. Shoot me now if you’re going to, otherwise, I’m going to treat these people."

Risking another step, she was inside the circle of stones and still no more shots had rang out. She fell to her knees at the colonel’s side, but he shook his head. She checked his pulse anyway and was reassured to find it steady and strong. She moved to Carter’s side next and was horrified at what she found. She had a gun shot wound in the shoulder, she’d lost a lot of blood and her blood pressure was dangerously low. Then Martens was at her side, helping her take care of Carter. She glanced over at Daniel and found that one of the other marines was at his side, turning him over assessing his condition. There was a bloody wound on the side of his head, but his eyes were open. She followed the track of where he was looking to find that they were now ringed by a circle of natives. While they were still holding their weapons, they were lowered. One of them, the leader she supposed, beckoned to Janet.

Making no quick moves, she stood. Her heart hammered wildly, she wondered if the man could hear it. She didn’t want to leave Sam, but she had a feeling that this moment would determine all of their fate. She stood as tall as she could manage as he circled round to inspect her. The man was massive, larger than Teal’c, he towered over her. She felt like a child under his hostile gaze, but she refused to cower to him. She met his gaze levelly until at last he nodded.

"Only one of great courage and heart would come here as you have done to aid these." She thought she heard the colonel hiss, ‘or an idiot,’ but she wasn’t sure as the man continued on, "They have trespassed in our holy place and we had intended to see them die," she started to protest but he stopped her with an upturned hand. "Your courage has saved them. Take them and do not return." He turned and left then, his people following behind him. Janet watched them a moment more, unable to believe that it was all over just like that as they disappeared into the trees. She wished that she had some time to process what had just happened, but knew that she had to take care of her friends. She turned back to find Jack and Daniel and the marines of SG-2 staring at her openmouthed in amazement.

"Now I’ve told you to never doubt the power I wield," she muttered to them as she dropped to her knees again at Sam’s side. Around her, the rest of the team was taken care of. Teal’c had been hit, but his symbiote was seeing to his injury and Jack had only been grazed, he just hadn’t been able to move without fear of being hit again. The natives had effectively pinned the team down, refusing to let them move or help their injured teammates. Quickly Carter and Daniel were loaded onto gurneys for the trip back to the SGC and they were heading back to the Stargate and home.

*****

Groggy and wounded as he was, Daniel still insisted that he was fine and be allowed to go to his own quarters on base to rest. Janet had to suppress a smile as the sentiment was echoed by the colonel and the jaffa who were resting on beds on either side of him. She knew that Sam would be singing the same tune if she were conscious to do so. While the captain’s injury was severe, she was responding to treatment well and would be fine, Janet was sure of it. It was reassuring to have everything back to normal in her infirmary.

"Ever hear the one about the archaeologist who refused to listen to his doctor?" she asked pleasantly. "He spent a week in the infirmary instead of the three days she was inclined to give him." She leveled her gaze on all three men and for once they subsided and lay back obediently against their pillows. Maybe there was something to that whole power of medicine thing after all. Then, as she moved away, she heard a barely audible ‘napoleonic power monger.’

Refusing to even look back, she clicked the lights in the infirmary off. She’d get her revenge, but not tonight. Tonight everyone was alive and well and where they should be. She was going to enjoy it while it lasted.

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Meeting of the Medical Minds
by The Libran Iniquity

Author's Note PLEASE READ THIS FIRST

Um... well, thanks for the challenge, Carrie *g*... little thing about this one is that I've set the challenge response in an Alternate Reality of my own creation (Doc Meyers being part of that creation), one that's part of an ongoing WIP I'm trying to finish off at the moment ;), which can be found on my Fanfiction.Net page under the title "Mundus Vult Decipi" (it should be 3rd on the list) if you're interested *g*

Well, here goes the tentatively titled "Meeting of the Medical Minds"...

- - - - -

"Janet Fraiser, I presume?"

After a few seconds' pause, Janet successfully resisted the urge to bite back with an O'Neill-esque response, and looked up from the stacks of paperwork in front of her. The nametag on the newcomer's chest read "DOCTOR Jonathan MEYERS" layered over a small representation of the SGA emblem. And despite Meyers' propensity to sounding like a refugee from Hugh Grant's back catalogue of movie characters, Janet found herself smiling - slightly. "And you're Doctor Jonathan Meyers, rank of Captain from the Royal Air Force, trained surgeon," she replied swiftly.

Never mind the soundalike, Meyers even sported the same rabbit-in-the-headlights look that seemed to be a mandate in all of Grant's movie contracts. "I take it you read the paperwork," he said, easily overcoming the brief moment of... something there.

"Even down to the lunch you ate in the second training hospital in London." Janet wasn't in the mood for playing games, and it must have shown on her face, as Meyers quickly did an about turn with an apologetic expression on his own face. Softening herself, Janet then asked, "What happened to Feretti?"

"The Goa'uld embedded down his spine tricked us into believing we'd been successful in removing it from Captain Feretti," Meyers said sombrely, his accent crisp. "I... it was all Colonel Jackson could do to keep himself from being killed in the embarkation room."

"Only Colonel Jackson?" Janet asked, her mood shifting in an instant. "Why the hell wasn't there anyone else to back him up?"

"Under the circumstances, the colonel made it quite clear to the rest of us that he could cope with the Goa'uld's enhanced strength."

"Really, that man is going to get himself killed one day," Janet muttered under her breath, then caught herself short. Two days. She'd left the SGA for two days to accompany SG-2 to a planet with several species of plants that had medicinal qualities, of sorts, and she'd left the medical wing in the capable hands of Evan Warner and the rest of their joint team.

Now one of that joint team was dead, the life strangled and choked out of him by the Goa'uld that had taken Feretti's body, and two others were patients in their own infirmary. Despite not even being on either of the two SG teams that had made the journey to the planet they had later learned was named Chulak by its inhabitants, Feretti - who had only just been appointed commanding officer of SG-4 - had accompanied Jackson and the others due to his involvement with the first mission to Abydos; namely that he'd been through the Stargate already.

And now this young upstart of an English surgeon had requested this meeting with her to formally ask her permission to "stick around and help if it comes to something like that again", in the words of Doctor Warner. Janet really didn't want to be here right now. There were patient files to update, public relations to carry out in the wake of Feretti's official post-mortem, and certain SG-1 commanding officer's medical assessments to negotiate; despite the fact he had only been with the SGA for eight days, effective as per the order for the second Abydos mission to go ahead, Colonel Jackson was already proving to be a difficult patient at the best of times, and being *ordered* to let the petite Chief Medical Officer poke and prod him with varying instruments et al did not come under that particular category. Of all those things, Janet found she was looking forward to the PR exercise the least.

"Perhaps... maybe it would be better if this meeting was rescheduled?" Meyers' voice was soft, and looking up again, Janet was startled to find that not only had more than five minutes gone by without her noticing, that Meyers had been watching her for most if not all of that time. 

"On the contrary, Doctor Meyers," she said quickly, surprising the Englishman as she spoke, "as long as we get this over and done with as quickly as possible..." Her tone brooked no argument, and mutely Meyers nodded and finally sat down in the chair facing Janet, her desk inbetween them.

Later, Janet knew she would be looking back on this first meeting - first real conversation - with the newcomer to the Stargate Alliance, and be struggling not to laugh at the fool she was potentially making of herself. As it was, however, she was here, so was Meyers, and as she had just said, there was indeed a meeting to be concluded as soon as was humanly possible.

Even so, she still took her time with the first question. "I take it General Hammond has debriefed you *fully* on what to expect whilst working in this mountain," she said crisply.

"Of - of course," Meyers replied, startled once again by her abrupt questioning. "And may I also add, Doctor Fraiser, that your public relations officers have done a marvellous job thus far, what with the furore over Sergeant Mackenzie."

"Not my PR men," Janet mumbled absent-mindedly before remembering where she was - who she was with. "You're here to ask permission to do one job - and one job alone, Doctor Meyers," she barked, again scaring the Englishman.
"And that involves general practitioner duties as well as sharing your surgical expertise. Do *not* make idle comments about our personnel until you've been here for long enough to get to know them!"

"I... I'm sorry." Meyers was genuinely contrite now.

Caught up in the moment somewhat, Janet could only stare at Meyers for a second. Maybe this wasn't going to be as bad as she had first envisioned. Granted, that first moment had been seconds after she, Kawalsky and his SG-2 unit had returned through the Stargate (sadly, without the plants they'd been looking for), but still... Janet had always liked to think she was a reasonable judge of character. And Meyers... Meyers seemed like a good enough man, for all that smooth talk and Hugh Grant impersonation.

"Perhaps it won't be such a bad thing if you stick it out down here after all," Janet said, catching the surgeon off guard. "In fact," she continued, "you can help me out with my next set of appointments. SG-1 needs to be medically cleared for their next off-world mission."

"Observation capacity?" Meyers asked, clearly puzzled now.

"Why observe when you're already a qualified doctor?" Janet grinned. "Now, Colonel Jackson, Doctor O'Neill, Captain Liley and Lieutenant Aldwin are due down in approximately ten minutes. I'd personally suggest you take Liley and Aldwin, since John and the colonel are two of the... trickier customers on the SG teams."

"Even so," Meyers mused, "would it not be more prudent if I took either Jackson or O'Neill through the check-up this time around?"

Rather surprised by now, Janet raised an eyebrow. "If you think you can handle him, Doctor O'Neill is all yours," she said, trying not to smile. "I'll take Lieutenant Aldwin, then, instead."

Meyers nodded his assent to that, before something else altogether crossed his face. "Doctor Fraiser," he began, "do you not think it's a little...hasty, SG-1 being allowed on an off-world mission so soon after all of this?"

Oh, boy. That was a loaded question if ever there was one. "Ultimately, it's General Hammond's decision to make, not mine," Janet replied. "And he's also under pressure from the SGA Council to show that two trips through the Stargate hasn't overwhelmed this facility to the point of inability to operate. SG-1 *is* the flagship team, whether Colonel Jackson likes that distinction or not."

Nodding, Meyers then said, "So... does this mean I've got the job?" He was grinning slightly.

"Granted you can keep up with the potential workload," Janet replied, "then yes, I'll tell General Hammond I've approved you for the position." 

Eagerness was now the key feature on the English surgeon's face as he got up from the chair and accepted the two folders Janet passed him from one side of her desk. "Just one more thing," Janet said, and all of a sudden Meyers got a whole lot tenser. "Since we're going to be colleagues for the moment, call me Janet."

Relaxing properly for the first time since walking into her office, Meyers smiled. "In that case, I'm Jonathan," he replied, a twinkle in his eye.

end

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