�And yet,� John agreed.
Landry hung up the red phone on his desk and sighed. �She�s right. The reason that Elizabeth Weir was selected to lead the expedition is that she�s liked and trusted by every single country in the alliance. And, since they trust her, they trust Major Sheppard and distrust you by extension,� Landry said. Caldwell groaned loudly, his shoulders sagging. �Look, obviously you�re not going to Atlantis. There is nothing that I can do about it right now. But the Daedalus does need a battle-ready Skipper and you�ve already proven yourself. You want the job, it�s yours.�
�Fine,� Caldwell said, though it was clear that he was not happy about it.
�So did you save General O�Neill�s life or something?� Conway asked as John got a feel for the 302�s handling in low Earth orbit.
�Not really,� John said honestly. The thing with the drone in Antarctica aside�and, really, that had been just as much about saving his own ass as the General�s�his interaction with Jack O�Neill was limited to a few of the debriefs the General had attended, a few phone conversations regarding Elizabeth while she had been in DC, and one slightly awkward moment when he and Sam had been sparring in the SGC�s gym and it had turned into more of a tickle fight than anything else and O�Neill had walked in on them prompting Sam to turn redder than he�d seen in years and leaving John to attempt to explain exactly why it was that he and Sam were acting so familiar with each other while, technically, on duty despite the fact that his duty station was in another galaxy. John got the impression that General Jack O�Neill wasn�t quite sure what to make of him, but that the fact that Elizabeth was fighting for him meant something to the former leader of the legendary flagship team of the SGC. �Why?�
�Well, it�s not every day Two-Stars in the E-ring make personal requests to push something through around here; at least outside the labs,� Conway commented. �Your training wasn�t scheduled to start for another week�a lot of us wondered why you were here so early�but the General called and ordered that someone get on it A-SAP.�
John frowned. Elizabeth had been just as confused by the interminable delays as John, himself, was, but Landry had made it sound like his training was supposed to start right away when he sent him down to Nevada.
Something wasn�t right in the state of Colorado, John mused, and he had a feeling it had something to do with the fact that he�d seen a few crew members he recognized from the Daedalus gathering up tools and spare-parts-ish things for the past few days.
�Huh. Guess I know who�s gonna replace me,� John muttered, his mind putting two and two together easily. Landry didn�t like him, Caldwell was historically power-hungry and command of a massive base looked better on a resume than commander of what amounted to a Tender Ship making supply and mail runs between Atlantis and Earth, and the fact that he was just a Major, a Major with a questionable record and the death of the man whose job he currently held on his hands at that, made everything suddenly become perfectly clear. John wasn�t sure what to do with the information about General O�Neill ordering his training pushed up immediately, but it did indicate that O�Neill, at least, was, if not on John�s side, then at least wanted him to be at the SGC to maybe have a say in what happened to Atlantis once he was stripped of his command.
�What was that, sir?� Conway asked.
�Nothing,� John replied. �Tell me about Antarctica,� he said, hoping to distract himself from what was suddenly less of an abstract notion�a worst case scenario he felt obligated to point out to Elizabeth because, as much experience as she had in dealing with the military, she still didn�t really understand the way it worked, the way the politics worked, though she would deny it to her dying breath, saying that she was the politician, not him, so she should know the way politics worked better than he did�and more of a very real probability: his removal from command on Atlantis. �I�ve read some basic reports, but, going by how it looked and felt from McMurdo, not to mention some of the casualties that came in after the fact; no written report could possibly cover it.�
�That�s the truth, sir,� Conway agreed readily. �I�ve never seen anything like it. There�s no reference I can think of to describe what that dogfight was like. I mean, I knew I�d end up in crazy-ass�uh� alien situations when it got into the 302 program, but� Antarctica was� beyond everything even the training at Area 51 prepares you for.�
Though he didn�t care whether Conway said �ass� or not in his presence, John noted her not-so-quick