Title: All The Difference

Author: Knife Hand

Feedback: Constructive feedback appreciated, flames unappreciated

Spoilers: Has references to all Stargate series seasons. Buffy to the end of Season 3

Rating: MA

Disclaimer: Don't own SG1, Buffy or any other character from a recognised series.

Summary: SG1 gets some help from an unexpected source… The future.

" " denotes speech, ' ' denotes thought.

AN: Deviates from just after Learning Curve in season 3 (1999).

Sam watched from the observation compartment as the Prometheus emerged from Hyperspace into the Solar System just inside the orbit of the Asteroid Belt. The Carter, The Slayer and The Bodiceia all emerged around the larger ship. Soon there were three Valkyrie Class ships on intercept course, with another Prometheus Class close behind.

"That the Damocles, the Joan of Arc and the Brynhild?" Jack asked. "What's the third Valkyrie?"

"Actually, no." One of the Fleet Marines replied. "The Damocles, Joan of Arc and Brynhild are all on deep system patrols. The Prommie is the Agamemnon. The Valks are The Pavlichenko, The Artemisia and The Athena. You'll be able to see The Ulysses when we reach Earth Orbit."

"I assume the Pavlichenko is the Russian Valkyrie." Daniel said, getting a nod from the Fleet Marine.

"I thought they were naming the Valks after female warriors." Jack said.

"She was." Came a voice with a thick but understandable Russian accent from behind them. "Lyudmila Pavlichenko was the greatest female sniper of Mother Russia in world war two. She had 309 confirmed kills when she was wounded by a mortar in 1942. She was a Hero of the Soviet Union."

SG1 turned to see a Russian Captain standing there, watching the Valkyrie class ship. His nametag said Kresnov.

"That's mighty impressive." Jack said. "Colonel Jack O'Neill, SG1."

"Captain Sasha Kresnov." The Russian replied. "Major Pavlichenko trained my grandfather as a sniper. I would have loved to serve on her, but I am no pilot."

SG1 want back to watching out the window as the Agamemnon, the Pavlichenko and the Artemisia all broke off and returned to their inner system patrols, while the Athena fell into formation with the Carter, the Slayer and the Bodiceia around the Prometheus. As they approached Earth, one of the crew, a female Lieutenant, approached SG1 and SG25, who by this time had joined SG1 in the observation compartment.

"SG1, SG25. When we get into stable orbit you will all, with the exception of Major Carter, will be beamed down to the SGC. Major Carter, you will be beamed down to the Yard. The Commandant wants to have a full debrief on the field operation of the Mark 38."

"Sorry, Mark 38?" Sam asked.

"I think she means the Bolter." The Warhammer obsessed SAS trooper said.

"Who is the Commandant?" Jack asked. "I don't recall that being a rank or position within the Fleet."

"It isn't." the Lieutenant replied. "Not officially anyway. It started out as a bit of a joke, but now the head of the Yard is simply referred to as the Commandant. It is currently Captain Harris."

"And what do you think of a Captain being the… Commandant?" Jack asked.

"He built the Fleet. Literally." The Lieutenant said with a shrug. "ETA to stable orbit is ten minutes."

With that the Lieutenant turned and left.

The light faded and Sam found herself in a small reception room in the Yard. There was a smiling female secretary who was sitting behind a desk who reached for the intercom on the desk.

"Sir, Major Carter has just arrived from the Prometheus." The secretary said.

"Send her in please Sally." The reply came.

The secretary stood and ushered Sam into the Commandant's Office. Xander was sitting behind a large desk that was filled with paperwork and looked up as Sam entered, Sally not entering but instead closing the door behind Sam.

"Carter." Xander said with a smile and a friendly note in his voice. "I hear you got to have some field experience with the Mark 38."

"Is that all of its official title, or is it a Mark 38 Bolter, Commandant?" Sam asked with a slight grin.

"Fair point, there are some Warhammer 40K nerds around here, but don't forget the plans came from The Box." Xander replied. "And please don't call me Commandant. It's a joke and everyone knows it. It's bad enough when Admirals and Generals use it wile I am trying to convince them that we can't just shove in more bunks and have another fighter squadron or a bigger Marine contingent onboard due to life support concerns."

"What's the allowance? An extra thirty kilos of ship weight per person?" Sam asked.

"Ninety." Xander replied. "That includes food storage, O2 generation, CO2 scrubbers, waste disposal, and bunk. That does not include that person's kit, weapons or fighters, and on a spaceship every kilo counts. I have started talking about trading weapons and armour for people. Want another fighter squadron? Fine. Which main gun do you want to get rid of? Want more Marines? Great. You loose x amount of armour from the entire ship."

"Sounds tough." Sam replied. "But you seem to be handling it, Captain."

"Please, for the love of Twinkies, call me Xander." He said. "We're friends, or at least I like to think so."

"Then call me Sam." She said with a smile. "So, how are those latest modifications going?"

There had been a lot of back and forth, particularly of emails but the occasional long phone calls, between Xander and Sam in an official capacity as many of the designs and fabrication processes were sent to her for review and improvement. It made for a good collaboration, with Sam's more technical and theoretical mindset and Xander's hands on mechanical approach. They had also started putting small non-work related messages to each other in the emails. Not romantic or anything but the kind you add to a friend.

"Good. The new targeting algorithms are being incorporated into all the new ships and the existing ones are being retrofitted. They make acquiring a target lock two percent faster." Xander said. "But now, how did the Bolter perform?"

Sam gave her rundown on the weapon. It's effectiveness against Death Gliders. The downside of premature detonation if the round hit something like a slender tree branch, making it less suitable in forest fighting. A slight defect with the magazine loading port that caused a minor delay but would be rectified with a slight retooling of the magazines themselves.

"It needs some refinements, but it is a very good suppression and anti light armour rifle. Though too overpowered for fighting here on Earth." Sam concluded.

"Too expensive for fights here too." Xander agreed. "They are also completely unsuited to shipboard operations. Though your improvements have increased round fabrication rates by eight point three percent and dropped the cost by four point six percent."

"So what's going to happen with them then?" Sam asked.

"We have started limited production." Xander replied. "At this stage only SG1 will have a full complement of Bolters. The SGC and Fleet S&R ground teams will be issued with two Bolters per team for use in high risk operations. There will be some in reserve to be issued as required, but they are never going to be a mainstay weapon."

"What are your Fleet Marines using?" Sam asked.

"Most are still with their M16's or M4's, but we are gradually rolling out the M41A Pulse Riffle, though all shipboard security will have the under barrel shotgun variant rather than grenade launcher of the assault teams." Xander replied.

When Sam left two hours later, it was with an almost giddy feeling. Xander had agreed to come when Commander James took her out for drinks. Despite their flirting, Sam knew that Luke James had no interest in her. He was a happily married man, but there was something both harmless and fun in the flirty banter with the Aussie Commander that made the whole thing more relaxed in a way flirting with another American could never be. And with Luke along, inviting Xander could not be considered a date, which took a bit of pressure off because Sam was really starting to like him. As a friend.

TBC…