Coming Down
By Oonagh
Disclaimer: I own absolutely nothing, at all.
Author's note: I wrote this story a long while back and found it today while cleaning out my hard drive. I'm not really sure about it but I'm posting it anyway – any criticism would be welcomed. It's set about one week after Uly's cure.
Devon Adair stood in the doorway of the tent she shared with her son and listened to him sleep. The gentle sound of his deep, even breathing never ceased to astound and thrill her. For eight years she had been used to the mechanical droning of the immuno- suit, more noticeable at night than at any other time, and sometimes she still woke, terrified because she couldn't hear it.
The week since Uly's encounter with the Terrians seemed like no time at all, but it had made all the difference in the world. His cure had vindicated her decision – her battle - to establish a colony planetside, to turn her back on the space stations that had sustained them since the deterioration of earth. Okay, so maybe the cure hadn't happened in the way she – or Dr. Vasquez - had expected. But it had happened – and if it worked for Uly it would work for all the other children to whose parents Devon had sold this project.
Now the only problem was making sure that the survivors of the advance team were there to meet the colonists and share the good news. At this thought Devon's slight smile slipped away. It was quite a big problem actually. They'd already lost one man – the leader, the soldier, the only one with any real knowledge of living on a planet of any type. And half the people who had crash landed in the pod with her weren't even supposed to be here and weren't too happy with the current circumstances.
But more seriously, this meant that many of her 'team' wouldn't have had the vaccinations and medications that Dr. Vasquez had insisted on for anybody making landfall. Alonzo was already suffering because of this and who knows what would happen to the rest of them before the colony ship arrived with medical supplies more advanced than those being carefully organised and catalogued by a concerned Dr. Heller. Once again Devon cursed Dr. Vasquez for going against her orders. He should be here, they shouldn't be stuck with some glorified intern. Devon shook her head – that was unfair, Julia had done a good job so far. But still Devon knew Dr. Vasquez, felt comfortable with him, trusted him with Uly. Devon's slight smile returned, wider than before, with the thought that if things kept going the way they were she would never again have to worry about Uly's relationship with physicians – at least no more than any other mother did.
Her deep seated – if wary - happiness about her son kept her smiling as she thought about the more immediate problems they faced. Transport, travel, supplies and democracy. So the problems were big, but they weren't insurmountable – Devon had witnessed a miracle seven days ago and now she knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that anything was possible.
Bolstered by her faith she turned away from her son and headed into the night, guided by the patch of lamplight that she knew meant Danziger was at work on one or another of the vehicles, a slight distance away from where the rest of the group was clustered around a large campfire. She veered away from the fire and headed for the vehicles. Danziger was the one she needed to talk to – he was their mechanic and knew more about their transport than anyone else and since O'Neill's death he had impressed her with his presence of mind and calm. She might not agree with many of his ideas and opinions – or any of them, actually – but she respected him for his straightforward manner. And he had searched tirelessly for her son, crawling through dark, unexplored tunnels looking wholeheartedly for the child of a woman he strongly disliked. She respected that as well, and was grateful.
So now that she had come down from her high, was facing reality and thinking clearly, she knew that he was the best bet to get logical, objective advice from – provided that she didn't touch on anything that affected True too closely. And it wasn't like she had to listen to his advice if she didn't like it. Reaching the transrover Devon called out,
"Danziger." She frowned slightly at the muffled grunt that answered her. This wasn't the kind of reaction she was used to from workers. They were supposed to jump when she called, anxious to please.
"Danziger." this time her tone was cooler, the crown princess displeased. But it had no effect. Danziger remained buried under the big machine, rattling away at something. Devon scowled. This had been a bad idea. It wasn't like she needed advice anyway. This was her project and she had managed perfectly well so far without advice from stubborn drones. Okay, so not everything was going according to plan but had she really expected everything to go completely smoothly? Of course not, not really. Devon snorted. Smoothly! The government had tried to kill them, blow them up. They'd exploded, crash landed thousands of miles from their destination, with only a tiny percentage of the crew and the advance team surviving the disaster. They had little food, few medical supplies, a crippled pilot, a well-meaning but out of her depth doctor and a leader who had no experience in this type of situation, who was confused and terrified. Crumpling under the weight of her thoughts Devon sank to the ground, doing nothing to stop the tears that slid down her face, slowly at first then with greater rapidity.
