![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Title: The Past Always Finds You - Part Six
Author:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
kellifer_fic
Characters: Team
Rating: PG13
Note: Prologue - the sga_flashfic entry Minor In Action
Spoilers: None.
*Thanks to my beta superfox*
Link to Part One
Summary: “Be reasonable Rodney,” Radek admonished with a snort.
“I haven’t been reasonable a day in my life. I’m not about to start,” Rodney sniffed.
…Then…
Sheppard waited patiently, crossing his arms against the chill of the morning and looking at the company that surrounded him. They’d been in the Grounder unit for six months and John couldn’t help looking at the new silver metal circle on his collar that denoted his upgrade in rank. He was in charge of the motley crew that surrounded him.
Their lives were his.
He checked his orders again, squinting at the ornate text and cursing whatever deadhead in administration thought it was prudent to change any military orders to the language of the Ancestors. Sheppard had a rudimentary grasp of the language, it was a requirement to become an officer, but he still felt like a little kid when trying to read it, having to sound out every word. He hoped he never got orders like it when under fire. Their position would be overrun before he’d had time to get through the first sentence.
Lorne always laughed when he voiced concerns like that, reminding John that if it came down to it, he would do what was right and somehow everything would work out.
It always seemed to.
Lorne appeared in front of him and by habit, Sheppard reached out to check his pack. Lorne slapped his hands away with a scowl as the nearest of their company looked at them with amusement. “Don’t do that!” Lorne hissed, looking over his shoulder and then back to Sheppard. “They’ve all started calling me Little Brother.”
Sheppard treated him to a wry grin. “Hey, if they watch out for you as a consequence, I’m not complaining.”
Lorne rolled his eyes in consternation but then noticed the paper in Sheppard’s hand. “We going somewhere?” he asked, eyes alight.
“Oh, so you only want to be my brother and get favours when it suits you,” Sheppard grunted, shoving Lorne’s craning face away from the orders only he was supposed to see. Lorne’s eyes pleaded silently and Sheppard wondered if they would ever get to an age where the plaintive look didn’t work on him anymore. “Oh fine,” he grumbled, moving the paper in front of Lorne’s face and watching with annoyance at how his eyes quickly scanned the lines. Lorne had always had a quicker grasp on languages and managed to get better at Ancestral just by scanning Sheppard’s notes when he’d been forced to take classes.
“Are you kidding me?” Lorne looked fit to bursting with excitement. They’d been cooling their heels for a while now and any action was welcome.
“I’m hoping it’s not a drill,” Sheppard nodded, looking over the page again.
There was a ring of the Ancestors in the main Town Square of the Capital Enura. This had been blocked off years earlier and no one outside of the Council of Leaders knew why.
Apparently something had forced its way through the shielding over the Ring of the Ancestors.
…The not so distant Now…
There’d been mild panic when both John and Lorne had gone missing after being blatantly lied to yet again and knowing it, but Rodney calmly began checking the balconies in the upper levels of Atlantis, hoping that John’s instincts were similar to his old ones and he would seek out the highest point possible when annoyed or upset.
Once upon a time that had meant flying but Rodney got the distinct impression that that was a joy denied to this particular incarnation of John Sheppard.
It was the fourth balcony on the Southern most tip of the city, one of the higher spires, that he found them. John was sitting with his legs threaded through the gap underneath the railing, feet swinging in space. Lorne was curled up next to him, head resting on what looked like John’s balled up jacket and very obviously dead to the world.
John turned slightly so Rodney was faced with only his profile, most of it shadowed in the waning light of the day.
“Is everyone panicking?” John asked, not really sounding too concerned.
“To a degree, yes. I know it’s annoying but the minders with you were as much for your safety as ours. There are things still in this city that we don’t… understand,” Rodney tried, moving out onto the balcony and leaning his arms on the railing. The sun was setting and the sky was streaked with purple shadows. “That can’t be comfortable,” he added, tipping a toe in Lorne’s direction.
John gave a wry snort. “He could always sleep anywhere. Handy talent to have considering.” John left it unspoken but waved a hand, sweeping fingers just over the top of Lorne’s spine where he’d had, until recently, a Wraith tracking device embedded.
“You just can’t go wandering about. This city… she’s a little dangerous.”
John turned his face to Rodney and he had an expression that Rodney recognised. It was always the face he pulled when he was puzzling something out and just needed the final piece to put things together.
“Stuff lights up when I touch it around here. There was a console in the room behind us under a dust cloth and when we had a look it lit up. I noticed on the way in that doesn’t happen with everyone. It does with Lorne, it does with me. Is that part of the reason you’re worried about us?”
Rodney sighed heavily. “Part of, yes. Not all of it. There’s just some things… there’s just some things someone much more tactful and sensitive than me should explain to you.”
“I don’t think we’re going to get an explanation anytime soon. Everyone was so cagey down in that meeting room and your Doctor looked positively terrified. Really, all I want to know is if he’s finally safe and we’re finally free,” John said, tapping a hand gently on Lorne’s shoulder, who grunted and turned onto his other side.
“I can’t guarantee either of those things. I’m truly sorry about that.”
John looked at Rodney for a beat, weighing his words and then looked back towards the ocean. “I believe you, but there’s still a lot you’re not telling us so I can’t trust you yet, if that makes sense.” At Rodney’s nod, John sighed and leaned his forehead against the cool bar in front of him. “Where I come from, we’re landlocked. We had a lake, but nothing like this.”
John was looking wistful and Rodney, with a start, realised that he’d been concentrating so hard on trying to make John realise that he was home, that he totally missed the fact that John would be missing another place altogether, somewhere he’d grown up with a family and friends and a real life. He was reassured though when John said, “We never really fit there, you know? We haven’t found the place we fit yet.”
***
“This better be good,” Radek was already grumbling as he made his way up the stairs from the gateroom to the control room overlooking it. He was weighed down with cases and glared at the gathered marines until one snapped forward and relieved him of all but the smallest case, which he clutched and held away with a scowl.
“Always a pleasure,” Elizabeth remarked from the landing and Radek looked up in surprise, genuine pleasure flooding his features.
“All is forgiven!” he announced as he leaned forward to accept her enthusiastic hug. “It has been too long!” He leaned around Elizabeth to turn a thunderous glance on Daniel. “You however, still in the dog house. Always recalling me. Give me a moment’s peace and I will drop dead from surprise.”
Elizabeth raised her eyebrows at Daniel who shrugged. “Rodney always-“
“We know Rodney always. My life savings for someone in charge who can say no to that man,” Radek lamented, casting a very pointed look in Elizabeth’s direction.
“What’s in the case?” Elizabeth asked, steering the conversation quickly away from the contentious topic of her departure.
“Rodney said to bring the Nanite research. Don’t tell me another virus has been unleashed?”
“No, no, nothing like that,” Elizabeth was quick to reassure and Radek huffed in relief, but his face paled as he caught sight of the two young men being led back into the conference room behind their gathering. “That’s-“ he breathed, lost for anything else to say.
“Colonel Sheppard and Major Lorne, yes. We have to explain.”
“Yes, that would be good.” Radek nodded, clutching his small case closer, his quick mind already putting together hundreds of possibilities and not liking the possible ramifications of any of them.
***
Rodney took a moment to watch Radek puttering around the lab before he made his presence known. He hadn’t realised how much he’d missed the little Czech until the man had been gone and suddenly the labs were filled with nothing but minions and botanists.
He looked exactly the same, timelessness about his countenance that Rodney marvelled at. He knew personally he had less hair than ever and since halting his offworld expeditions he’d grown a little thicker through the waist, although not as much as he might have if not for Ronon bundling him out of bed for a run whenever the urge took him to torture someone which was fairly often.
“Doctor McKay, must you stand gawking all day?” Radek huffed, turning a brilliant smile on Rodney that betrayed his gruff tone.
“It’s good to… you know,” Rodney allowed, noting with annoyance that Radek had automatically occupied the workstation he preferred, despite the fact that it was different than the last time Radek had been there. It didn’t matter how many times Rodney reorganised the room, Radek would unerringly find the one place Rodney had previously been occupying.
“So, Carson explained some of what has happened. It was not as expected.”
“That’s putting it mildly,” Rodney agreed, pulling a stool up to where Radek had spread out, fingering some of the equipment laid out on the table. “Hey, some of this I haven’t seen before,” Rodney added in protest.
“The Fioran outpost is a little… newer. We were bound to find some advancement.”
“And I distinctly remember demanding that I be called everytime you found something new.”
“Be reasonable Rodney,” Radek admonished with a snort.
“I haven’t been reasonable a day in my life. I’m not about to start,” Rodney sniffed and then they both grinned at each other, acknowledging that the easy patina of their banter was about as close as either of them were going to get to saying “Good to see you”.
“We found more examples of Nanite viruses, but less successful. We think the Ancients were attempting to either replicate the technology or find a way to eradicate it that didn’t require a nuclear detonation.”
“Well, it looks like whoever the Nanite makers were, they found a way to make these little critters more resilient.”
“Yes, organic parts, fascinating. Almost…” Radek paused, looking thoughtful.
“Almost?” Rodney prodded, eyebrows raised.
“Well, Wraith ships are part organic, yes?”
“Yes, but I don’t see…” Rodney trailed off as his mind caught the thread of Radek’s thinking and ran with it. “What, you mean this could be like the Goa’uld? Like the Wraith appropriated some technology for their own ends?”
“Yes, but what ends? What possible use is a human who can learn faster than most? Surely that would be detrimental to the Wraith cause.”
“Umless…” Radek looked at Rodney expectantly. “Oh god, everything they’ve learned since they were reverted back to five years old is stored in the nanites.”
“That would be the assumption since their brains-“
“Listen to what I’m saying,” Rodney snapped. “The Wraith knew we could access Earth from our stargate and would rightly assume that we would send children back to their home planet. I guess we derailed their plans by sending them offworld instead.”
“So why capture Major Lorne and implant him with the tracking device? Coincidence?”
“I don’t think so. I think they figured John and Lorne would make their way back here eventually. For all we know, the compulsion to dial Atlantis could have come from the Wraith when they were under fire, to force their hand.”
“What does all this mean?” Radek asked, looking shaken.
“It means Elizabeth was right, but for the wrong reason.” Rodney said, hands balled into fists.
“They’re dangerous.”
Part Seven
Author:
kellifer_ficCharacters: Team
Rating: PG13
Note: Prologue - the sga_flashfic entry Minor In Action
Spoilers: None.
*Thanks to my beta superfox*
Link to Part One
Summary: “Be reasonable Rodney,” Radek admonished with a snort.
“I haven’t been reasonable a day in my life. I’m not about to start,” Rodney sniffed.
Sheppard waited patiently, crossing his arms against the chill of the morning and looking at the company that surrounded him. They’d been in the Grounder unit for six months and John couldn’t help looking at the new silver metal circle on his collar that denoted his upgrade in rank. He was in charge of the motley crew that surrounded him.
Their lives were his.
He checked his orders again, squinting at the ornate text and cursing whatever deadhead in administration thought it was prudent to change any military orders to the language of the Ancestors. Sheppard had a rudimentary grasp of the language, it was a requirement to become an officer, but he still felt like a little kid when trying to read it, having to sound out every word. He hoped he never got orders like it when under fire. Their position would be overrun before he’d had time to get through the first sentence.
Lorne always laughed when he voiced concerns like that, reminding John that if it came down to it, he would do what was right and somehow everything would work out.
It always seemed to.
Lorne appeared in front of him and by habit, Sheppard reached out to check his pack. Lorne slapped his hands away with a scowl as the nearest of their company looked at them with amusement. “Don’t do that!” Lorne hissed, looking over his shoulder and then back to Sheppard. “They’ve all started calling me Little Brother.”
Sheppard treated him to a wry grin. “Hey, if they watch out for you as a consequence, I’m not complaining.”
Lorne rolled his eyes in consternation but then noticed the paper in Sheppard’s hand. “We going somewhere?” he asked, eyes alight.
“Oh, so you only want to be my brother and get favours when it suits you,” Sheppard grunted, shoving Lorne’s craning face away from the orders only he was supposed to see. Lorne’s eyes pleaded silently and Sheppard wondered if they would ever get to an age where the plaintive look didn’t work on him anymore. “Oh fine,” he grumbled, moving the paper in front of Lorne’s face and watching with annoyance at how his eyes quickly scanned the lines. Lorne had always had a quicker grasp on languages and managed to get better at Ancestral just by scanning Sheppard’s notes when he’d been forced to take classes.
“Are you kidding me?” Lorne looked fit to bursting with excitement. They’d been cooling their heels for a while now and any action was welcome.
“I’m hoping it’s not a drill,” Sheppard nodded, looking over the page again.
There was a ring of the Ancestors in the main Town Square of the Capital Enura. This had been blocked off years earlier and no one outside of the Council of Leaders knew why.
Apparently something had forced its way through the shielding over the Ring of the Ancestors.
There’d been mild panic when both John and Lorne had gone missing after being blatantly lied to yet again and knowing it, but Rodney calmly began checking the balconies in the upper levels of Atlantis, hoping that John’s instincts were similar to his old ones and he would seek out the highest point possible when annoyed or upset.
Once upon a time that had meant flying but Rodney got the distinct impression that that was a joy denied to this particular incarnation of John Sheppard.
It was the fourth balcony on the Southern most tip of the city, one of the higher spires, that he found them. John was sitting with his legs threaded through the gap underneath the railing, feet swinging in space. Lorne was curled up next to him, head resting on what looked like John’s balled up jacket and very obviously dead to the world.
John turned slightly so Rodney was faced with only his profile, most of it shadowed in the waning light of the day.
“Is everyone panicking?” John asked, not really sounding too concerned.
“To a degree, yes. I know it’s annoying but the minders with you were as much for your safety as ours. There are things still in this city that we don’t… understand,” Rodney tried, moving out onto the balcony and leaning his arms on the railing. The sun was setting and the sky was streaked with purple shadows. “That can’t be comfortable,” he added, tipping a toe in Lorne’s direction.
John gave a wry snort. “He could always sleep anywhere. Handy talent to have considering.” John left it unspoken but waved a hand, sweeping fingers just over the top of Lorne’s spine where he’d had, until recently, a Wraith tracking device embedded.
“You just can’t go wandering about. This city… she’s a little dangerous.”
John turned his face to Rodney and he had an expression that Rodney recognised. It was always the face he pulled when he was puzzling something out and just needed the final piece to put things together.
“Stuff lights up when I touch it around here. There was a console in the room behind us under a dust cloth and when we had a look it lit up. I noticed on the way in that doesn’t happen with everyone. It does with Lorne, it does with me. Is that part of the reason you’re worried about us?”
Rodney sighed heavily. “Part of, yes. Not all of it. There’s just some things… there’s just some things someone much more tactful and sensitive than me should explain to you.”
“I don’t think we’re going to get an explanation anytime soon. Everyone was so cagey down in that meeting room and your Doctor looked positively terrified. Really, all I want to know is if he’s finally safe and we’re finally free,” John said, tapping a hand gently on Lorne’s shoulder, who grunted and turned onto his other side.
“I can’t guarantee either of those things. I’m truly sorry about that.”
John looked at Rodney for a beat, weighing his words and then looked back towards the ocean. “I believe you, but there’s still a lot you’re not telling us so I can’t trust you yet, if that makes sense.” At Rodney’s nod, John sighed and leaned his forehead against the cool bar in front of him. “Where I come from, we’re landlocked. We had a lake, but nothing like this.”
John was looking wistful and Rodney, with a start, realised that he’d been concentrating so hard on trying to make John realise that he was home, that he totally missed the fact that John would be missing another place altogether, somewhere he’d grown up with a family and friends and a real life. He was reassured though when John said, “We never really fit there, you know? We haven’t found the place we fit yet.”
“This better be good,” Radek was already grumbling as he made his way up the stairs from the gateroom to the control room overlooking it. He was weighed down with cases and glared at the gathered marines until one snapped forward and relieved him of all but the smallest case, which he clutched and held away with a scowl.
“Always a pleasure,” Elizabeth remarked from the landing and Radek looked up in surprise, genuine pleasure flooding his features.
“All is forgiven!” he announced as he leaned forward to accept her enthusiastic hug. “It has been too long!” He leaned around Elizabeth to turn a thunderous glance on Daniel. “You however, still in the dog house. Always recalling me. Give me a moment’s peace and I will drop dead from surprise.”
Elizabeth raised her eyebrows at Daniel who shrugged. “Rodney always-“
“We know Rodney always. My life savings for someone in charge who can say no to that man,” Radek lamented, casting a very pointed look in Elizabeth’s direction.
“What’s in the case?” Elizabeth asked, steering the conversation quickly away from the contentious topic of her departure.
“Rodney said to bring the Nanite research. Don’t tell me another virus has been unleashed?”
“No, no, nothing like that,” Elizabeth was quick to reassure and Radek huffed in relief, but his face paled as he caught sight of the two young men being led back into the conference room behind their gathering. “That’s-“ he breathed, lost for anything else to say.
“Colonel Sheppard and Major Lorne, yes. We have to explain.”
“Yes, that would be good.” Radek nodded, clutching his small case closer, his quick mind already putting together hundreds of possibilities and not liking the possible ramifications of any of them.
Rodney took a moment to watch Radek puttering around the lab before he made his presence known. He hadn’t realised how much he’d missed the little Czech until the man had been gone and suddenly the labs were filled with nothing but minions and botanists.
He looked exactly the same, timelessness about his countenance that Rodney marvelled at. He knew personally he had less hair than ever and since halting his offworld expeditions he’d grown a little thicker through the waist, although not as much as he might have if not for Ronon bundling him out of bed for a run whenever the urge took him to torture someone which was fairly often.
“Doctor McKay, must you stand gawking all day?” Radek huffed, turning a brilliant smile on Rodney that betrayed his gruff tone.
“It’s good to… you know,” Rodney allowed, noting with annoyance that Radek had automatically occupied the workstation he preferred, despite the fact that it was different than the last time Radek had been there. It didn’t matter how many times Rodney reorganised the room, Radek would unerringly find the one place Rodney had previously been occupying.
“So, Carson explained some of what has happened. It was not as expected.”
“That’s putting it mildly,” Rodney agreed, pulling a stool up to where Radek had spread out, fingering some of the equipment laid out on the table. “Hey, some of this I haven’t seen before,” Rodney added in protest.
“The Fioran outpost is a little… newer. We were bound to find some advancement.”
“And I distinctly remember demanding that I be called everytime you found something new.”
“Be reasonable Rodney,” Radek admonished with a snort.
“I haven’t been reasonable a day in my life. I’m not about to start,” Rodney sniffed and then they both grinned at each other, acknowledging that the easy patina of their banter was about as close as either of them were going to get to saying “Good to see you”.
“We found more examples of Nanite viruses, but less successful. We think the Ancients were attempting to either replicate the technology or find a way to eradicate it that didn’t require a nuclear detonation.”
“Well, it looks like whoever the Nanite makers were, they found a way to make these little critters more resilient.”
“Yes, organic parts, fascinating. Almost…” Radek paused, looking thoughtful.
“Almost?” Rodney prodded, eyebrows raised.
“Well, Wraith ships are part organic, yes?”
“Yes, but I don’t see…” Rodney trailed off as his mind caught the thread of Radek’s thinking and ran with it. “What, you mean this could be like the Goa’uld? Like the Wraith appropriated some technology for their own ends?”
“Yes, but what ends? What possible use is a human who can learn faster than most? Surely that would be detrimental to the Wraith cause.”
“Umless…” Radek looked at Rodney expectantly. “Oh god, everything they’ve learned since they were reverted back to five years old is stored in the nanites.”
“That would be the assumption since their brains-“
“Listen to what I’m saying,” Rodney snapped. “The Wraith knew we could access Earth from our stargate and would rightly assume that we would send children back to their home planet. I guess we derailed their plans by sending them offworld instead.”
“So why capture Major Lorne and implant him with the tracking device? Coincidence?”
“I don’t think so. I think they figured John and Lorne would make their way back here eventually. For all we know, the compulsion to dial Atlantis could have come from the Wraith when they were under fire, to force their hand.”
“What does all this mean?” Radek asked, looking shaken.
“It means Elizabeth was right, but for the wrong reason.” Rodney said, hands balled into fists.
“They’re dangerous.”
Part Seven
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
From:
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...
HOLY HELL.
...and if everything that they've learned is stored in the nanites...does that mean that the wraith have that much more of an edge right now? they know how a civilization of humans ran from them, how this group of runners got together and escaped them? uh oh.
and seriously...this alt. timeline porn of yours better be really good, considering what you are doing to my heart here. *wibbles*
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Can't wait for more!
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I had to read the last few paragraphs twice to get what you meant, but, now I've got it? *flails*
Love how Rodney knew John so well that it was him that found him. Love that John's 'John-ness' is so ingrained him that even mind-wiped he's the same John that loves flying and heads as high as possible. *flails*
Radek and then the Radek and Rodney interaction (and Daniel and Elizabeth) was absolutely classic! *g*
And then the end. Where there was flailing. I swear, you're going to be the death of me!
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Damn, this was really really really really really really really really really really really really good. Really.
*grins and decides to be a little annoying* I loved the thing with the thing. That was awesome. *giggles*
Seriously, though. This was awesome and cool and good.
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The relationship between John and Lorne is enough to rip the heart out. It's just such a cool brothers relationship. And I love your Rodney and Radek. They are perfect.
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