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Title: The Past Always Finds You - Part Five
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: “We can enlist,” Sheppard had explained, knowing deep down that he shouldn’t be making such a rash decision for both of their lives when he was hurt and confused, but his skin had been crawling and home had ceased being home the moment he’d held those tags.
…Then…
They stood in line like dozens of other hollow eyed and sad looking boys and waited their turn. Sheppard was fingering the metal tags and chain that his mother had finally, tearfully handed over, one set to him and one to Lorne, explaining where they had come from but not really knowing the why of it all. Their Father had explained patiently that it had never seemed like the right time to tell them and Sheppard had grown angry and had thrown things.
Lorne had sat, quiet and contemplative as always, waiting to take his brother’s lead in whatever decision he made.
Lorne had silently followed Sheppard back to their room and had watched him pack, taking his own backpack down and starting on his own clothes. Sheppard had looked at him for a moment with large, shiny eyes and then had nodded once, firmly.
“We can enlist,” Sheppard had explained, knowing deep down that he shouldn’t be making such a rash decision for both of their lives when he was hurt and confused, but his skin had been crawling and home had ceased being home the moment he’d held those tags. Lorne, having packed efficiently rather than angrily, had finished first and sat down on the edge of the bed, running the chain of his own tags through his fingers, before wrapping them around his hand tight enough to leave indents in his knuckles.
“You could go to the Academy. If you enlist as a Grounder, you won’t be able to fly.”
Sheppard had paused for a second, not looking up, his face tight. “We can enlist,” he’d said firmly, having dismissed any further argument with that simple statement.
Lorne had leaned forward, holding out his tags and John had taken them, confusion washing over his face for a second before he’d realised what Lorne had wanted. With a wry smile, he’d handed his own over and it was these that Lorne had slipped over his neck.
The day was cold and his breath frosted out of his mouth as he stood, fingers tracing over the raised lettering.
Maj. N. Lorne.
US Airforce.
…The not so distant Now…
Rodney stopped dead in the doorway of the infirmary, hit with the strongest sense of de ja vu he’d ever felt. Lorne and Sheppard sat side by side on one of the infirmary beds, legs swinging almost in synch, both looking vulnerable. They’d submitted to a barrage of Carson’s tests and were currently both wearing red scrubs, feet bare. Now that the grime and patched uniforms had been stripped away, they both looked painfully young.
“We already have babysitters,” John snapped when he noticed Rodney hovering, indicating with a flick of his head the two armed marines discreetly placed in the corners of the room. Rodney wondered if they knew there were four more outside. Both Elizabeth and Daniel were equal parts relieved and concerned by their presence and weren’t taking any chances. Considering John’s track-record when it came to being outnumbered in Atlantis, it wouldn’t have been overkill to have another thirty or forty men down the hall.
“I’m not here to… ah crap, this is difficult for everyone,” Rodney sighed, scrubbing a hand over his forehead.
“I’m sorry this is all so hard for you,” John said sarcastically, his eyes narrowing.
“That’s not what I… ah hell, I just missed you both,” Rodney blurted, colouring bright red as soon as he’d said it. “Everything basically fell apart after…well, after.”
“After what exactly?” Lorne spoke up and Rodney’s eyes ticked to him. He remembered with a start that they were still pretty much in the dark about everything. Apparently they knew they weren’t native to the planet where they’d been raised, had basically been abandoned by their own people with no explanation and precious little else.
Rodney took a deep breath and plunged ahead, knowing he was probably skipping all kinds of protocols but not really caring. What he cared about was sitting right in front of him, looking confused and scared.
As he explained, Lorne looked more puzzled and John’s expression closed down completely. He was pretty sure they believed him, or at least most of what they were being told, but he couldn’t really tell how it was affecting either man. As the story wound down, he was suddenly glad that Carson had been able to get all his tests in before he’d come to see them, because Rodney had seen the expression on John’s face before.
When his city and people were threatened by the Genii and he was gearing up to kill every single last one of them.
“We’re not brothers?” Lorne asked in a small voice and Rodney felt something tighten in his chest, knowing he had just plain steamrollered over the facts of their history without really thinking about the consequences. He’d wanted to reassure them that they were in the right place, were home, but he knew he’d miscalculated as to how the news would be received.
John shifted, only a tiny amount, but Rodney noticed that his shoulder was now in front of Lorne’s and he was a tiny bit closer, as if he could bodily shield him from what Rodney had laid at their feet.
“It’s all a little bit… much,” John said slowly, looking from Rodney to the marines and then to the door all in a quick sweep of his gaze. Rodney saw John weighing the benefits of flight or fight but right at that moment, one of the marines stationed outside sneezed and the tension in John eased slightly. “Just what do you think we’re going to do?” John asked.
“Um, we have to take precautions because-“
“Rodney!” Elizabeth snapped from behind and Rodney paled, knowing he would have glibly explained how John was conversant with Atlantis to a scary degree if left alone for another few seconds. He turned a sheepish expression on Elizabeth and saw she still had the ‘don’t tell the Genii you make nuclear weapons as a hobby’ face perfectly. That expression had been introduced by John and by the end of his time; most of the Atlantis personnel who had ever looked after Rodney had adopted it.
“He won’t do anything!” Rodney snapped, exasperated that people were still regarding John and Lorne as a potential danger.
John was watching them carefully, awareness that he’d just missed something potentially important plain on his features. “Just what is it you think we’ll do?” he repeated, looking to Elizabeth.
“We don’t know yet. I’d like to give you the benefit of the doubt but you’re strangers-“ Rodney snorted in derision,” – here and we always take precautions.”
John shrugged. “That’s fair, but do you have four guards on everyone?”
“Six,” Rodney automatically corrected and then bit his lip when Elizabeth threw up her hands.
“I’m assuming Rodney’s filled you in,” Elizabeth sighed, throwing an annoyed glance in Rodney’s direction and John tilted his head.
“The basics. I still want to know what your doctor was babbling about.”
“I do too. Has Carson finished mucking about in the labs yet?” Rodney snapped, impatience evident in every line of his body.
“Yes, I’m finished mucking about Rodney,” Carson snapped from behind them. “Let’s take these lads to the conference room. This is going to take a while.”
***
John and Lorne sat alone in the conference room while a heated discussion waged outside. John watched his brother carefully who had taken off the chain around his neck and now had it flat on the table, using the edges of his fingers to nudge it into different patterns. First a star, then a circle, then a half moon.
“It doesn’t matter what they say,” John said mildly and he saw Lorne’s brows draw down further. “You’re my brother.”
“I just can’t… they’re basically telling us that we’ve lived two lives… that we started all over again.” Lorne’s voice was bruised, making John’s skin go cold. Lorne held up the chain with the tags dangling. “This guy probably had a family and so did that one.” Lorne pointed across the table at John’s chest and the tags that lay against his breastbone. “They… I mean we…ah gods, I don’t know.”
“We can’t do anything about them, whoever they were,” John sighed, massaging his temples with his fingers because a dull ache had started just below his skull.
***
“Are you sure?” Elizabeth asked, not for the first time and Carson rolled his eyes, for once his incredible patience wearing thin.
“Yes, I’m sure. I have seen this before.”
“But nanites?” Daniel was blinking rapidly, a sure sign that his thoughts were racing, making leaps and connections to past encounters. “I mean, okay, I’ve seen this type of technology used to speed up aging so I guess…”
“We’ve also seen this technology used as a bio-weapon to terrify people to death,” Rodney groaned. “If we’re dealing with the same people, then no way was this meant to be something fun.”
“The brain damage they sustained in the initial de-aging process was too severe. There were indicators that they would once again age physically, but mentally they should have stayed regressed. There were dark areas all over their minds, reminiscent of patients whose brains had been starved of oxygen too long. From all the scans we took at the time, there should have been no recovery on that front.”
“They did… they are,” Rodney said, waving a hand in the direction of the conference room.
“I know, but it’s not their brains that are doing the work. With our greater understanding of the Ancient equipment, I was able to tell what I was looking at this time. They have hundreds of nanites embedded in their brains and throughout their bodies, carrying out the functions of those dormant parts of their minds. That’s not the surprising thing though.”
All gathered blinked at Carson.
“These are different from the bio-weapon nanites. These are, well, organic.”
Rodney’s mouth fell open and his whole face went pink. “Organic…nanites?” he said in that breathy tone of voice that indicated he was able to have a meltdown over something technological that he also regarded as deeply cool. That tone was usually a precursor to weeks of no sleep and long hours in the lab.
“They multiply, breed if you will.”
“That means…” Rodney was clicking his fingers and then pinched at his lower lip with thumb and forefinger, the colour in his cheeks still high. “Their learning potential is feasibly unlimited. You could pretty much download anything into their minds given the right transfer method.”
“Who would do this? Why would they do this?” Elizabeth breathed.
Ronon, who’d been standing a little way down the hall, leaning against the railing, pushed off and sauntered closer. “I’d say soldiers,” he said, shrugging.
“Care to be more cryptic?” Rodney prodded and Ronon snorted at him.
“On Sateda, when we took prisoners of war during the colonial sieges, they would sometimes try and brainwash them to serve our own armies. There were heavy losses and both sides and not even one trained soldier was to be wasted.”
“What are you saying?” Daniel asked, but he had a horrible suspicion that he knew.
“I don’t think we were supposed to ever get them back. Maybe… maybe they were just being-“
“Reprogrammed,” Rodney said, all the colour finally leaving his features as he looked at the double doors of the conference room.
“What do we tell them?” Teyla asked, concern on her features.
“As little as possible,” Daniel said, gnawing at his lower lip which was a giveaway that he’d made a decision even he didn’t like.
“Just, for now.”
Part Six
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: “We can enlist,” Sheppard had explained, knowing deep down that he shouldn’t be making such a rash decision for both of their lives when he was hurt and confused, but his skin had been crawling and home had ceased being home the moment he’d held those tags.
They stood in line like dozens of other hollow eyed and sad looking boys and waited their turn. Sheppard was fingering the metal tags and chain that his mother had finally, tearfully handed over, one set to him and one to Lorne, explaining where they had come from but not really knowing the why of it all. Their Father had explained patiently that it had never seemed like the right time to tell them and Sheppard had grown angry and had thrown things.
Lorne had sat, quiet and contemplative as always, waiting to take his brother’s lead in whatever decision he made.
Lorne had silently followed Sheppard back to their room and had watched him pack, taking his own backpack down and starting on his own clothes. Sheppard had looked at him for a moment with large, shiny eyes and then had nodded once, firmly.
“We can enlist,” Sheppard had explained, knowing deep down that he shouldn’t be making such a rash decision for both of their lives when he was hurt and confused, but his skin had been crawling and home had ceased being home the moment he’d held those tags. Lorne, having packed efficiently rather than angrily, had finished first and sat down on the edge of the bed, running the chain of his own tags through his fingers, before wrapping them around his hand tight enough to leave indents in his knuckles.
“You could go to the Academy. If you enlist as a Grounder, you won’t be able to fly.”
Sheppard had paused for a second, not looking up, his face tight. “We can enlist,” he’d said firmly, having dismissed any further argument with that simple statement.
Lorne had leaned forward, holding out his tags and John had taken them, confusion washing over his face for a second before he’d realised what Lorne had wanted. With a wry smile, he’d handed his own over and it was these that Lorne had slipped over his neck.
The day was cold and his breath frosted out of his mouth as he stood, fingers tracing over the raised lettering.
Maj. N. Lorne.
US Airforce.
Rodney stopped dead in the doorway of the infirmary, hit with the strongest sense of de ja vu he’d ever felt. Lorne and Sheppard sat side by side on one of the infirmary beds, legs swinging almost in synch, both looking vulnerable. They’d submitted to a barrage of Carson’s tests and were currently both wearing red scrubs, feet bare. Now that the grime and patched uniforms had been stripped away, they both looked painfully young.
“We already have babysitters,” John snapped when he noticed Rodney hovering, indicating with a flick of his head the two armed marines discreetly placed in the corners of the room. Rodney wondered if they knew there were four more outside. Both Elizabeth and Daniel were equal parts relieved and concerned by their presence and weren’t taking any chances. Considering John’s track-record when it came to being outnumbered in Atlantis, it wouldn’t have been overkill to have another thirty or forty men down the hall.
“I’m not here to… ah crap, this is difficult for everyone,” Rodney sighed, scrubbing a hand over his forehead.
“I’m sorry this is all so hard for you,” John said sarcastically, his eyes narrowing.
“That’s not what I… ah hell, I just missed you both,” Rodney blurted, colouring bright red as soon as he’d said it. “Everything basically fell apart after…well, after.”
“After what exactly?” Lorne spoke up and Rodney’s eyes ticked to him. He remembered with a start that they were still pretty much in the dark about everything. Apparently they knew they weren’t native to the planet where they’d been raised, had basically been abandoned by their own people with no explanation and precious little else.
Rodney took a deep breath and plunged ahead, knowing he was probably skipping all kinds of protocols but not really caring. What he cared about was sitting right in front of him, looking confused and scared.
As he explained, Lorne looked more puzzled and John’s expression closed down completely. He was pretty sure they believed him, or at least most of what they were being told, but he couldn’t really tell how it was affecting either man. As the story wound down, he was suddenly glad that Carson had been able to get all his tests in before he’d come to see them, because Rodney had seen the expression on John’s face before.
When his city and people were threatened by the Genii and he was gearing up to kill every single last one of them.
“We’re not brothers?” Lorne asked in a small voice and Rodney felt something tighten in his chest, knowing he had just plain steamrollered over the facts of their history without really thinking about the consequences. He’d wanted to reassure them that they were in the right place, were home, but he knew he’d miscalculated as to how the news would be received.
John shifted, only a tiny amount, but Rodney noticed that his shoulder was now in front of Lorne’s and he was a tiny bit closer, as if he could bodily shield him from what Rodney had laid at their feet.
“It’s all a little bit… much,” John said slowly, looking from Rodney to the marines and then to the door all in a quick sweep of his gaze. Rodney saw John weighing the benefits of flight or fight but right at that moment, one of the marines stationed outside sneezed and the tension in John eased slightly. “Just what do you think we’re going to do?” John asked.
“Um, we have to take precautions because-“
“Rodney!” Elizabeth snapped from behind and Rodney paled, knowing he would have glibly explained how John was conversant with Atlantis to a scary degree if left alone for another few seconds. He turned a sheepish expression on Elizabeth and saw she still had the ‘don’t tell the Genii you make nuclear weapons as a hobby’ face perfectly. That expression had been introduced by John and by the end of his time; most of the Atlantis personnel who had ever looked after Rodney had adopted it.
“He won’t do anything!” Rodney snapped, exasperated that people were still regarding John and Lorne as a potential danger.
John was watching them carefully, awareness that he’d just missed something potentially important plain on his features. “Just what is it you think we’ll do?” he repeated, looking to Elizabeth.
“We don’t know yet. I’d like to give you the benefit of the doubt but you’re strangers-“ Rodney snorted in derision,” – here and we always take precautions.”
John shrugged. “That’s fair, but do you have four guards on everyone?”
“Six,” Rodney automatically corrected and then bit his lip when Elizabeth threw up her hands.
“I’m assuming Rodney’s filled you in,” Elizabeth sighed, throwing an annoyed glance in Rodney’s direction and John tilted his head.
“The basics. I still want to know what your doctor was babbling about.”
“I do too. Has Carson finished mucking about in the labs yet?” Rodney snapped, impatience evident in every line of his body.
“Yes, I’m finished mucking about Rodney,” Carson snapped from behind them. “Let’s take these lads to the conference room. This is going to take a while.”
John and Lorne sat alone in the conference room while a heated discussion waged outside. John watched his brother carefully who had taken off the chain around his neck and now had it flat on the table, using the edges of his fingers to nudge it into different patterns. First a star, then a circle, then a half moon.
“It doesn’t matter what they say,” John said mildly and he saw Lorne’s brows draw down further. “You’re my brother.”
“I just can’t… they’re basically telling us that we’ve lived two lives… that we started all over again.” Lorne’s voice was bruised, making John’s skin go cold. Lorne held up the chain with the tags dangling. “This guy probably had a family and so did that one.” Lorne pointed across the table at John’s chest and the tags that lay against his breastbone. “They… I mean we…ah gods, I don’t know.”
“We can’t do anything about them, whoever they were,” John sighed, massaging his temples with his fingers because a dull ache had started just below his skull.
“Are you sure?” Elizabeth asked, not for the first time and Carson rolled his eyes, for once his incredible patience wearing thin.
“Yes, I’m sure. I have seen this before.”
“But nanites?” Daniel was blinking rapidly, a sure sign that his thoughts were racing, making leaps and connections to past encounters. “I mean, okay, I’ve seen this type of technology used to speed up aging so I guess…”
“We’ve also seen this technology used as a bio-weapon to terrify people to death,” Rodney groaned. “If we’re dealing with the same people, then no way was this meant to be something fun.”
“The brain damage they sustained in the initial de-aging process was too severe. There were indicators that they would once again age physically, but mentally they should have stayed regressed. There were dark areas all over their minds, reminiscent of patients whose brains had been starved of oxygen too long. From all the scans we took at the time, there should have been no recovery on that front.”
“They did… they are,” Rodney said, waving a hand in the direction of the conference room.
“I know, but it’s not their brains that are doing the work. With our greater understanding of the Ancient equipment, I was able to tell what I was looking at this time. They have hundreds of nanites embedded in their brains and throughout their bodies, carrying out the functions of those dormant parts of their minds. That’s not the surprising thing though.”
All gathered blinked at Carson.
“These are different from the bio-weapon nanites. These are, well, organic.”
Rodney’s mouth fell open and his whole face went pink. “Organic…nanites?” he said in that breathy tone of voice that indicated he was able to have a meltdown over something technological that he also regarded as deeply cool. That tone was usually a precursor to weeks of no sleep and long hours in the lab.
“They multiply, breed if you will.”
“That means…” Rodney was clicking his fingers and then pinched at his lower lip with thumb and forefinger, the colour in his cheeks still high. “Their learning potential is feasibly unlimited. You could pretty much download anything into their minds given the right transfer method.”
“Who would do this? Why would they do this?” Elizabeth breathed.
Ronon, who’d been standing a little way down the hall, leaning against the railing, pushed off and sauntered closer. “I’d say soldiers,” he said, shrugging.
“Care to be more cryptic?” Rodney prodded and Ronon snorted at him.
“On Sateda, when we took prisoners of war during the colonial sieges, they would sometimes try and brainwash them to serve our own armies. There were heavy losses and both sides and not even one trained soldier was to be wasted.”
“What are you saying?” Daniel asked, but he had a horrible suspicion that he knew.
“I don’t think we were supposed to ever get them back. Maybe… maybe they were just being-“
“Reprogrammed,” Rodney said, all the colour finally leaving his features as he looked at the double doors of the conference room.
“What do we tell them?” Teyla asked, concern on her features.
“As little as possible,” Daniel said, gnawing at his lower lip which was a giveaway that he’d made a decision even he didn’t like.
“Just, for now.”
Part Six