Disclaimer Stargate Sg-1 and its characters are the property of Stargate (II) Productions, Showtime/Viacom, MGM/UA, Double Secret Productions, and Gekko Productions. This story is for entertainment purposes only and no money exchanged hands. No copyright infringement is intended. The original characters, situations, and story are the property of the author. This story may not be posted elsewhere without the consent of the author.

Sam scanned the medical reports, making a mental note to review the upcoming mission assignments. With both Sheppard and Lorne out of commission for a few weeks, there would need to be some major reshuffling of mission assignments.

"Major." Sam snorted at her inadvertent mental pun. She seriously needed to get some sleep if she was finding her own jokes funny.

The alarm of an incoming wormhole sounded and Sam sighed, pushing her chair back from her desk. "What now?" she muttered, hurrying to the control room.

"It's the SGC," Chuck announced, anticipating her question.

"Open it up," she said, self-consciously straightening her jacket. Who could be coming through now? First, no visitors were scheduled. Second, she was due to return to the SGC in a few hours. While she had been off helping with the rescue of the teams, word had come through about the capture of the last of the Ba'al clones. The Tok'ra were going to extract the symbiote in a few days and SG-1 - ALL the present and former members of SG-1 - had been requested to put in an appearance.

And, once that was over, she was scheduled for the 'joy' of an exhaustive review of her first year in command. Definitely not something she was looking forward to. She wondered why the IOA couldn't just come here to perform their review. Then again, every time the IOA traveled off world, they'd ended up in all sorts of life threatening situations. Which was probably why they preferred to stay safely on Earth.

"Woolsey?" Chuck muttered, drawing Sam's attention back to the person that had just stepped through the gate.

"It must be my lucky day," she said softly, just tired enough to indulge herself in a bit of insubordination.

She took a deep breath and pasted a proper smile on her face, walking down the stairs to greet the visitor. "Mister Woolsey," she greeted politely. "I wasn't aware that you were coming."

"Colonel. I'm afraid that I only found out myself this morning. Perhaps we should speak in your office?"

Intrigued, and lacking any real reason to decline, Sam merely gestured towards her office, allowing Woolsey to lead the way.

"I'll hold your calls, ma'am," Chuck said as they passed his station.

"Thank you." She briefly laid her hand on the back of his chair and followed Woolsey into her office. "Please, have a seat," she invited as she closed the door. She made her way to her desk and sat down. "I hope you'll understand, Mister Woolsey, if we need to keep this short. As I'm sure you know, I'm due back on Earth in a couple of hours. Unless, of course, that's changed," she said, grasping on the one logical reason for his visit.

"In a manner of speaking," Woolsey said, his tone making Sam frown. He sighed. "Colonel Carter, I have the unfortunate task of telling you that the IOA will not be renewing your assignment here. Effectively immediately, you are to be removed from command of the city."

Sam stared, her mind struggling to process his words. "Ex…cuse me?" she stuttered out.

"This is certainly not something that I thought would happen or something -"

"What's going on?" she interrupted.

"I thought I was fairly clear-"

"About the what, not the why."

He sighed again. "The IOA feels that someone with a different skill set would be better suited to administering to the needs of this city," he said, almost as if he was parroting the words of another.

"And the truth?" she pressed, calmly folding her hands in front of her.

"Colonel-"

"I've saved your ass enough times for you to spare me the political BS," she challenged.

He looked away for a second, then back at her. "Strictly off the record…they're scared. Earth almost fell to the Ori. The Wraith know that the Milky Way galaxy exists. It's just a matter of time before they find out where it is and how to get there. As the Midway fiasco proves."

"All the more reason to have this city defended," she reasoned.

"If the IOA had their way, this city would be abandoned and destroyed," he said.

"Are they crazy? Do you have any idea how much technology and knowledge this city has?"

"No. And neither do you," he countered. "Over the last year you've spent the equivalent of just a few weeks actually exploring this city."

"And I distinctly remember telling you just what Doctor Weir told you. If you want every room of this city explored in a timely manner, I need more people," Sam said, dredging up a long standing argument.

"And the IOA feels that a more efficient method of exploration-"

"Efficient?"

"Is to shift the focus from planetary exploration to city wide exploration," he said, ignoring her interruption.

"So, instead of dealing with the trouble at hand, and stopping it while it's stoppable, they're going to bury their heads in the sand and hope there's a miracle cure tucked away in a closet somewhere?"

"Yes," he answered simply.

"And when it's not here? When Michael and his Hybrids attack this city from orbit? When they, instead of simply feeding on the humans, 'convert' them all to a massive army? What then?"

"We'll cross that bridge if we have to," he said, shrugging slightly as if he really had no answer at all. Which, if Sam knew the IOA, none of them really did have an answer to. He leaned forward. "Colonel, relieving you of command was not my recommendation. In fact, it was quite the opposite. I won't profess to have a fraction of the experience that you have, but I have some idea what things are like out here. Personally, I feel that you have handled events to the best of your ability and that - with your knowledge of Ancient technology - there's no one better to command this city."

"But?" she asked, not acknowledging his compliment.

"But there are those amongst the IOA that hold the military in very low esteem. They wish for a less adversarial and antagonistic presence in the Pegasus galaxy."

"Adversarial?"

"Not my words," he said quickly. He glanced down at his watch. "On the record, I do apologize for the timing of this. However, since you and the rest of SG-1 will be busy with Ba'al's extraction and trial, it was decided that this would be less…awkward time for a change of command. That is why I chose to travel here and inform you personally. So that you could have time to gather your personal belongings yourself. Whatever you don't need immediately can be shipped back with the Daedalus when it returns to Earth for it's in-depth repairs."

Sam nodded, her shock still providing some welcome insulation from her emotions. "I guess I better get busy then," she said, not bothering to hide the note of bitterness in her voice. "Presuming- of course - that you don't need to watch me pack to make sure that I'm not stealing the office supplies," she said as she got to her feet.

"Colonel, I have nothing but the utmost respect for you and the job you've done," he said, also getting to his feet. "As do your superiors. I cannot change the IOA's mind, but I can and have done everything possible to insure that this decision in no way reflects poorly upon you."

"Wow, I'm touched," Sam said sarcastically, crossing over to the credenza to gather her photos. She carefully tucked them in her arms and returned to her desk - the desk - to pick up her favorite coffee mug. Ignoring Woolsey, she gathered a few more items, glad that she'd kept the personal clutter confined to her quarters.

She reached up and pulled the earpiece off, tossing it onto the desk before she retrieved the small figurine of Dorothy that General O'Neill had sent her, then turned to face Woolsey. "I'm curious. Who's the non-adversarial…person the IOA has chosen to replace me?" she asked, keeping her tone even.

Woolsey sighed deeply. "That would be me, Colonel," he confessed.

Sam raised her eyebrows and chuckled. She spun on her heel and walked towards the door. She paused in the doorway and looked back. "When Michael and his Hybrids DO show up, the only thing a 'non-adversarial attitude' is going to get you is a starring role in his laboratory. If you want to keep this city intact, listen to Sheppard and listen to his people. They've lived here and survived here, for four years. And I wouldn't depend on the IOA to tell you what to do. This city can be destroyed in the time it takes them to decide what brand of coffee to serve at the meeting."

"I'll bear that in mind, Colonel," he said, standing beside the desk.

"You do that," she muttered under her breath as she turned away. "And try not to get everyone killed in the meantime."

Her arms full, she walked through the empty halls of the city to her quarters, for the first time in a long time, her immediate future an unknown.

~Fin~

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