Live with it - SGU Fanfic
Title: Live with it
Author: Elaiel
Rating: NC17
Warnings: Violence, vomit, gore
Spoilers: None.
Characters: Eli, Young, Rush .
Author's notes: Written for the stargateland "Aliens made us do it" challenge. Whump, angst, violence.
Eli ran to the control panel as the team of Marines ran up to wait by the sides for him to open the gate.
A defence team stood slightly ahead of him, TJ waiting with them, Young next to Rush by the other console.
"When we go through we'll open the gate straight back up," called Scott, "stay back and wait for us to bring our people back."
Eli hit the buttons and the gate opened with a whoosh before settling into it's puddle and the Marines trotted through. Eli closed the gate immediately and it closed with it's typical exhalation of gas. They waited for the gate to reopen. Seconds passed and the gate stayed inactive.
"Shouldn't they have dialled back now?" he asked Young anxiously.
"Yeah." He said, not taking his eyes off the gate.
He looked at the controls then back at the gate.
"Should I dial in so you can radio them?" Eli asked.
"No, we don't want to stop them getting back." Young's eyes didn't waver from the gate.
Eli counted down thirty seconds, then a minute. Then two.
"Two minutes." He said.
Young shifted to the other foot, gaze unwavering and Eli saw TJ check the bag of medical supplies at her feet. Eli looked down at the gate controls, checking the diagnostics, just in case. He could see Rush doing the same at the other console. Three minutes. The defence team were getting restless, he could hear guns being shifted on their shoulder straps.
A burp from Young's radio made him jump, but it was just Brody on the bridge, notifying Young that they could drop back into FTL anytime now.
Four minutes. Eli's shoulders felt tight and he yanked his t-shirt down further, zipped up his hoody, then unzipped it.
Five minutes. Seven minutes. Eleven minutes. The gate grated, shifted and was spinning. Eli looked down at the controls, incoming wormhole from the planet, finally the team were back. The seventh chevron ID set itself and the event horizon whooshed out then stabilised.
There was a metallic thunk, and something hit the floor. Reflexively Eli ducked behind the console, in time to feel the concussion wave pass him by, sheltered by the console, but deafening him. Ears ringing he looked to his left, to see the defence team and Young thrown back by the blast, TJ sent flying into the corridor, Airman Barnes hitting the corner of the console next to him.
There was silence for a second, only the ringing in his ears as he crouched behind the console. Then the pattern of light changed and he peered round the edge of the console to see figures silhouetted in the gate-light.
Out of the corner of his eye he could see Young beginning to move, painfully reaching out from his position on the floor for a fallen gun. Rush was knelt behind the other console, upright but clutching his head. The lead figures by the gate took a step or two forwards and the silhouettes resolved themselves into discernible figures. Two stocky figures, definitely not human, flanked by three human figures, but their heads seemed misshapen and he realised there was something covering their scalps, something dark and organic.
The stocky figure made a noise, speech maybe, clear tones and weirdly musical clicks and the humans stepped forward. Eli realised it was Chu, Hanson and Doctor Alexander. Beside him Young had got his fingers on the gun and was drawing it towards him.
There was another burst of musical clicking and the two stocky figures stepped back, one gesturing at Young with another bell tone. Eli watched in horror as Chu swung his gun round from where it hung from his shoulder. Barnes gun was next to his foot. Chu was going to shoot Colonel Young. Young was going to die.
The shot going off was loud and shocked him. Chu fell back, blood pouring from the wound in his throat. Eli felt the pain from the kick back of the gun braced against his shoulder, felt the hardness of the gate room floor under his knee as he knelt by the console, ears ringing even harder. Time slowed as he watched the stocky figures step forward, saw blood pouring from Chu's throat to puddle on the floor.
Another blast of gun fire made him jerk back, turn his head in shock to see Young then Rush firing, automatic weapons fire knocking the two stocky figures back in shuddering jerks as bullets rattled into them.
The silence was sudden and almost painful. There were two thuds as Hanson and Alexander collapsed. His ears ringing, Eli stood, still holding the gun, still pointing it forwards. The three advanced, Young and Rush checking the aliens, Eli looking down at the corpse of Chu. The bullet had ripped through his throat so hard Eli could see bone. There was so much blood. Eli stepped back, realising he was standing in it.
Suddenly he was turning, dropping the gun, stomach emptying over the floor, falling to his hands and knees, unconcerned as his palms landed in the pool of vomit expelled from him. His stomach cramped, throat burned, tears squeezed from clenched eyes. Retching the last of the bile from his stomach, he flinched as a hand fell heavily on his back. He forced himself to his knees, pushing up his own weight and the other, who shifted grip to his shoulder. He rested dripping hands on his thighs and looked up to Rush who was leaning on Eli's shoulder, gun held in the other arm.
Eli looked up at him and wiped his mouth on his sleeve.
Rush said something, but Eli couldn't hear through the ringing in his ears.
"Are you okay?" Rush repeated, slower so Eli could lip read.
"I killed Chu." He said.
"You saved us." Rush said.
"Chu is dead."
"We are alive." Said Rush, swaying slightly.
Young came into Eli's field of vision, and Eli could see people coming into the gate room, checking the wounded. Eli shook his head trying to clear the ringing. Young gestured to get his attention.
"You did the right thing." Young said, and Eli heard it faintly. "They would have taken the ship."
"I didn't even think about it!" Eli protested. "I just shot him! What does that make me?"
"It makes you alive, and him dead." Said Rush.
Young's response was slower, he was obviously dizzy and deafened.
"Chu wasn't in control of himself. You had no choice."
Eli groaned, scrubbing his hands on his thighs. "What do I do now?"
"You did what you had to do, you live with it."