Equilibrium Chapter 1: Losing Home, a stargate: atlantis fanfic

Equilibrium

Author: ShaViva

Rating: T+

Season: Season 2 onwards

Summary: Major Lorne is new to Atlantis and must find his feet in the city, and in his new role as Colonel Sheppard's second in command.

Classifications: General

Pairings: None planned – but who knows where this could go!

Spoilers for: Everything from Season 2.3 Runner, onwards.

Disclaimer: I am unfortunately not associated in any way with the creators, owners, or producers of Stargate or any of its media franchises. If I was they'd still be making it instead of retiring this awesome show without at least giving it the ending it deserves. All publicly recognizable characters, settings, equipment, etc are the property of whoever owns them. Any original characters, plot, settings, and anything else I made up are the property of me, the author. No copyright infringement is intended.

Authors Note:

The format of this story will be one chapter per episode of SGA, starting from Runner (yes, for some things Atlantis doesn't start for me until Lorne is there!). The subject for each will be determined by writing prompts from a Twitter account I follow and the challenge is not only to write to the prompt but to tie this altogether so it's one story instead of a collection of one shots. The underlying theme is that Atlantis is its own system and can only be stable and balanced when all the major players are there.

Of course it's all about Lorne and how he comes to find his place on Atlantis, and also about the Sheppard CO/Lorne 2IC relationship. I'll also be focusing more on what happens after the camera stops rolling, with inclusion of episode events or dialogue at a minimum and only when necessary. No promises on how often I'll update - this is about getting me writing regularly again but hopefully it'll turn out okay too!

Hope you enjoy.

Equilibrium is the condition of a system in which competing influences are balanced.
(source: Wikipedia)

Chapter 1: Losing home

Timeline, Season 2, 'Runner'

Lorne sat in the back of the jumper, eyes on the floor as the little ship rose smoothly into the air under the command of Colonel Sheppard. After his first off world mission since reassignment to Atlantis there was plenty to assimilate on a personal front, but the Major found his thoughts were on their unexpected additional passenger.

Specialist Ronon Dex.

Resident of the Pegasus galaxy and from what little his CO had already said, a man who'd been on the run for longer than seemed possible.

Looking at the man again, Lorne was surprised to find Ronon watching him. The look in his eyes could only be described as assessing – in an 'are you a threat or an ally?' kind of way. Lorne let nothing of his own thoughts show, nodding an acknowledgement that he'd drawn the man's attention before casting his eyes elsewhere. His thoughts lingered on their new guest though. What had the man gone through to survive? How had he managed it alone? And more importantly, how was he going to react when he realised they had the means to send him home?

"Dial the gate," Sheppard ordered.

McKay's fingers flew over the triangular keys as he quickly tapped out the address for Atlantis.

"Sending IDC," the scientist said as they approached the open wormhole.

Moments later they burst from the event horizon into the Atlantis gateroom. Colonel Sheppard took charge of Ronon, ordering everyone to the infirmary for post mission check-ups before they debriefed. Lorne followed along behind his impromptu team – Coughlin, Reed, Sherman, and Billick – the men all talking about the sharp turn their simple escort mission had taken. In the infirmary they broke naturally into groups, Carson following with Sheppard's team and Ronon while Lorne and his men peeled off to be seen to by the other doctor on duty.

"I see you came through unscathed," Doctor Cole commented, pulling out her pen light to check whatever it was doctors checked when they shone a bright light in your eyes.

"The Major was stunned with a Wraith stunner," Carson called out, his accent making that announcement sound lyrical.

"You were?" Cole's eyes narrowed as she looked at Evan closely.

"Ah …. Yeah, I was," Lorne admitted. "I feel fine now."

"How long were you out?" the doctor queried, turning on that light and shining back and forth across Lorne's vision.

He blinked, his pupils contracting, the bright light leaving a nice negative image on his sight even after Cole switched it off. "No idea Doc," he shrugged, looking across to Coughlin with a raised brow.

"A couple of hours," Coughlin offered.

"Mmm," Cole's lips pursed. "That's a little longer than usual."

"So they told me," Lorne replied. "The radiation on that planet was screwy Doc – and we were exposed the longest."

"That might explain it," Doctor Cole agreed. "I'll run a few additional parameters through when we scan you, just to make sure."

"Sure, of course," Lorne agreed, knowing he didn't really have a choice.

Lying on the hard surface of the scanning machine, feeling the warm blue glow of ancient light passing over him, Evan was only peripherally aware of the infirmary getting quieter as everyone involved in the mission was signed off and given clearance to leave.

"Okay, we're done," Cole announced a few moments later, urging Lorne to sit up. He swayed slightly, bracing himself with strong arms before the room stabilised.

Casting a glance at the doctor to see if she'd noticed he got a wry smile in return. "Dehydration," she said simply. "Increase your fluids for the next twenty four hours and you should be fine Major."

Lorne nodded. "Thanks Doctor Cole," he said, keen to get out of the infirmary.

"Make sure you come back if the dizziness persists," Cole urged after him.

"Sure thing Doc," he called, pausing to throw her a half smile and raised hand in acknowledgement before he was out the door.

The debrief had already begun by the time he got there. "Sorry Sir," he murmured as he took the last remaining seat next to Doctor McKay, nodding respectfully to Doctor Weir and the Colonel.

"I guess punctuality was another of those courses you skipped in Major School," Rodney commented sarcastically.

"McKay," Sheppard warned before Lorne could respond. Not that he'd have said anything cutting - McKay was clearly high on the 'pain in the ass' scale but it was also equally clear that his input was valued. Lorne would continue to reserve judgement until he'd gotten to know the scientist better.

"Is everything okay Major Lorne?" Doctor Weir asked.

"Yes Ma'am," Lorne returned briskly, seeing no need to expand on why he'd taken longer than everyone else to get there.

"Colonel Sheppard has briefed me on the situation with Lieutenant Ford," Elizabeth continued. "What are our plans?"

"We find him," John stated succinctly, turning his attention to McKay. "Is there any way we can track that hive ship?"

"Not a chance," Rodney said immediately.

"Can you not harvest the last gate addresses dialled?" Teyla asked, her tone so reasonable that even McKay couldn't take offence.

"Usually, yes," Rodney agreed. "The last fifty to a hundred dialled addresses are stored in the DHD's active memory, in no particular order."

"But not this time?" John queried.

"No," McKay said grimly. "That radiation didn't only screw with our instruments – it affected the DHD as well, wiped the memory completely clean."

"Can't you get that kind of stuff back, even after it's deleted?" Sheppard persisted.

"If I had a year, maybe," Rodney shot back impatiently. "This isn't like restoring the hard drive on your laptop Colonel. This is alien technology we only partially understand. I can delve into the inner workings of that DHD but there's no guarantee I'll get anything useful. And by the time I do Ford will be long gone."

"It is difficult to believe Aiden would let himself be culled deliberately," Teyla commented sadly.

"It's the enzyme," Sheppard said sharply. "It's messing with his head. If we can find him …"

"We'd still have ourselves an uphill battle," Carson finished. "The Lieutenant's been on the enzyme for weeks Colonel. I'm not convinced we can ween the lad off the drug, not without killing him."

"Then we need to find a way," Elizabeth said. "The threat of exposure to the enzyme is broader than just Lieutenant Ford current situation. "

"We need to make that a priority," Sheppard spoke firmly, his expression intent. "I want to be ready next time, when we find Ford again."

"Oh please," Rodney scoffed. "You didn't talk to him like I did Colonel. Half the time he was convinced we were out to get him and the rest of it that he was some kind of invincible super hero. Do you really think he'll come with us willingly?"

"Yes," Sheppard insisted. "If we offer him the right incentive. Just do what you can Carson."

Lorne looked from the Colonel to McKay and back again. He'd only been stationed on Atlantis for a few weeks and was still forming his impressions of the staff. Not that he'd needed long to work out that Colonel Sheppard was the kind of officer who'd go to the wall and beyond before he'd let anyone get left behind. Lorne was still dealing with the fall-out from P3X-403, with what happened to Ritter – even though the order to send Ritter out alone hadn't come from him, Evan still felt responsible. Knowing he wouldn't have to argue with Colonel Sheppard like he had with Edwards went a long way towards being convinced he'd made the right call coming to Atlantis.

Not that he'd had a real choice – once he'd been tested for the ATA gene and come up positive it had only been a matter of time before he was stationed in the city of the Ancients.

"And what of Ronon?" Teyla's change of subject drew Lorne's attention back to the debrief.

"We send him back to Sateda," Elizabeth said simply. "Assuming he's fit enough?" she added, sending Carson a quizzical look.

"Aye, he's fit enough. In fact I've never seen someone heal so fast," Carson replied. "Aside from some nasty scarring – self-inflicted mind you – there'll be no lasting effects from him carrying around that tracker. Not physically."

"And if the Wraith have destroyed his home?" Teyla queried, her eyes wise to the ways of the Pegasus galaxy.

"He's got skills and he knows how to survive against the Wraith," Sheppard pointed out. "He'd be a valuable asset around here."

"Not exactly talkative though, is he?" McKay muttered.

"We can't all have your volume of stunning repartee Rodney," John made that sound like both insult and compliment and Lorne held in the sudden urge to smile.

"Before we map out Mr Dex's entire future perhaps you should talk to him Colonel," Doctor Weir interrupted before McKay could make a comeback. "Doctor McKay will acquire the gate address for Sateda and prepare a MALP."

"I will?' Rodney gulped at Elizabeth's pointed look and gave a weak smile. "Yes, yes, I'll get on that … right now in fact." He stood and hesitated. "That is if we're done?"

"You can go," Weir's expression was still that of an experienced diplomat but somehow Lorne just knew she was amused by McKay's manner. "We'll meet back in the control room once Mr Dex is ready for us to contact Sateda."

Lorne stood when Doctor Weir did, waiting politely for her and the others to head for the door before falling into step behind the group.

"So, first mission what you expected?" Colonel Sheppard dropped back to walk beside Evan.

"Dead Wraith, weird radiation, getting stunned, and bringing an alien home with us?" Lorne queried blandly. "Of course Sir – par for the course."

Sheppard laughed, slapping a hand to Lorne's shoulder. "You'll do all right," he said.

A few hours later Lorne stood on the fringes of the control room, watching the video feed the MALP was sending back. Sateda lay in ruins – nothing of what had obviously been an advanced civilisation remained. Even as someone with no direct knowledge of the place, Lorne felt the despair of seeing the destruction the Wraith had wrought. He looked away, his eyes instinctively going to the one person who did have that knowledge.

Ronon stood, somehow alone despite Doc tor Weir and Colonel Sheppard flanking him close by. He had an armed escort too, the two guards standing a discrete distance apart, doing that 'we're watching you but trying to look like we're not watching you' thing.

"That is Sateda?" Ronon asked.

"I'm sorry," Colonel Sheppard's tone made it clear he felt for the other man. "It doesn't look like anyone survived the last attack."

Evan's position allowed him to see Ronon's expression – it felt like an invasion of privacy to watch the man who could be the last living Satedan swallow hard, to see the sheen of tears in his eyes. The Wraith made Ronon Dex a runner seven years ago and now they'd made him an outcast – a man with nowhere to call home.

Ronon turned to look at the Colonel and Doctor Weir – but there was nothing he could say and so without a word he turned and walked away, his guards following a respectful distance behind.

"Well … that went well," Sheppard muttered.

"Give him time," Elizabeth said softly.

"He needs to know he has a place here," John insisted. He looked at Doctor Weir pointedly. "He does have a place here, right?"

"Of course, and he can move about freely as soon as you've ruled him out as a potential security risk," Weir returned.

Colonel Sheppard looked frustrated but then nodded, resigned to following protocol. Lorne found it interesting that Doctor Weir was the one to push aside the natural emotional urge to just accommodate Ronon – because he'd lost an entire world – and remember that they had a city full of people to protect.

"Lorne," Sheppard called him forward. "Arrange for Ronon to be assessed and work out what, if any, military training he'll need. Teyla will take care of acclimating him to Atlantis."

"Yes Sir," Lorne nodded to his CO and then to Doctor Weir before making his way from the control room.

In his office he quickly scheduled Ronon for weapons and combat assessments, and then sat back, thinking over his day. He'd met his first Wraith – dead, but it still counted; had his first experience with a Wraith stunner – on a par with being zatted but the headache on waking had been a hell of a lot worse; and seen the worst of what the Wraith were capable of. And somewhere in the midst of all that he'd found another level of comfort and certainty that Atlantis was the place he needed to be. Evan felt for Ronon Dex … and could only hope that in time the Satedan would find the same comfort and certainty for himself.

It did make a man wonder – what would have happened if Colonel Sheppard hadn't been in charge on Atlantis and therefore the one to go to P3M-736 to find Ford? What if someone like Lorne's old CO, Colonel Edwards, or Colonel Caldwell had been in charge instead? Would either man have brought a man like Ronon back to Atlantis? Lorne's gut feel said no – they'd have gone down the line on protocol and correct procedure and come back to Atlantis to confer with the SGC and the IOA first. If they'd got the nod, then they'd have gone back to P3M-736, but in all likelihood Ronon Dex would have been long gone. What would the Satedan's future look like now if that had been the case?

Lucky for Ronon, and Lorne suspected Atlantis too, that hadn't happened. And so they had time - for Ronon to see what they were offering him and what he could offer in return. One thing was for sure, it was going to be interesting to see how the big guy went about fitting in.

Author's Note: The prompt from Writing Prompts on Twitter, was 'Outcast'.