Emerging Part 1
Warnings: Set post Season 5
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of the Stargate World and make no profit from this, other than general enjoyment.
Comment: This fic was written for the 2010 Beya Secret Elf Exchange. This was my gift for Wikked Angel 78, that was delivered in 4 small gifts (chapters) and then the rest as the finall Christmas/New Year gift. It is a complete fic, in 8 chapters, and so I'll post up a couple at a time. The complete fic can be found at the Beya LJ though, and I'll get round to putting it on my LJ too. I hope everyone had a very merry christmas and is having a fabulous New Year. Welcome 2011!
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"Many say that there is no purpose to life, no meaning to our existence. That we live in a harsh and unforgiving Universe that was as unforgiving on the Ancient races as it is upon our own. There is no order, no destiny.
"Stars are born and they die, giving life and then taking it away. Planets turn with no purpose, no meaning. Mountains rise up to the sky to be weathered back down again, tides swell and then retreat, climates freeze and then boil. Time flows ever onwards, unforgiving, unrelenting, and uncaring.
"What is a human life compared to that?"
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Atlantis sat comfortably on the ocean, returned once again to its home. The night air was cool against John's face as he leant his hip against the balcony railing. It wasn't the same view as he had enjoyed for the last 6 months back on Earth, it was infinitely better. He drew in a deep breath of cool air, the sense of accomplishment still strong.
Home.
It was odd that he thought that really, since wasn't Earth home?
He frowned out at the dark expanse of sea. He had loved being back on Earth, enjoying the blending of the thrill of being in Atlantis, with being back 'home'. However, as was probably inevitable, the politics had kicked in and suddenly the fun of being back had been ruined. John had found himself on the verge of being transferred, his team broken up, and his best people being reassigned out across the planet, and he had realised that Earth had somehow, long ago stopped being 'home'.
Being here in Pegasus, it gave a sense of freedom, a new way of working that wasn't quite military and it wasn't quite IOA. It was an amalgamation. A way of doing things that he, Elizabeth, Colonel Carter, and even Woolsey had all formed over the years. Everyone in the city had all become something like an extended family all working together for a common goal, not fighting with each other and squabbling over titbits like the politicians back on Earth. Here in Pegasus, there was freedom from that. Well, some, he admitted, since even the gulf between the two galaxies wasn't quite enough distance to get away from the politics entirely.
John was happy to be back here, back in a galaxy full of Wraith, all hell-bent on killing everyone in Atlantis and feeding on all the humans in Pegasus.
Not for the first time did John wonder about his values.
When had being away from the comfort of cars, movie theatres, and fighter jets become 'home'?
When did he prefer to be stood out on a dark balcony when his duty shift had ended well over an hour ago?
He glanced down at his watch, realising how late it was getting. Tomorrow would hold another long duty shift in a galaxy that was far more dangerous than the one in which he had been born.
The rest of his team would all be in bed, probably all snuggled up in someone else's arms, while here he stood alone, all contemplative and happy to be back in Pegasus.
Maybe there was something wrong with him he mused.
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It began in an empty room.
A vacant room, abandoned for so many centuries. Just a large empty space, absent of anything to distinguish it except that it was on the highest level of one of the furthest buildings on one pier of the Ancient City of Atlantis.
Nothing had disturbed the room since those ancient days. A large empty room, that anyone passing would not consider interesting. There were no windows, no furniture, no consoles, and no locks. Just an empty abandoned space.
The air inside the room was still, unmoving since there was no open window, no small hidden creatures living out their lives in the corner shadows. Nothing to stir the air.
The one single door remained shut, yet still something changed inside the room.
At the centre of the space, surrounded by still air above, below and around it, the tiniest flicker and sparkle of light began.
Unseen and unheard.
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TBC