Disclaimer: All recognizable characters, settings, accepted cannon ideas, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The Original Character and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
Season One
Air: Part One
Written by DropDeadRomantic
As I stumble my way out of the Stargate I can hear people all around me; either falling out behind me or watching and waiting for people to stop coming out of the event horizon. I can hear Lt. Scott giving orders while the Colonel is still on the other side of the Gate, trying to keep everyone calm and out of the way of incoming people. I stand up, over to the side, and look through the crowd trying to find him.
"Nick!" There was so much noise that I had to yell to feel like I would be heard. The noise of people still being thrown out of the Stargate and the military yelling out orders was making it hard to hear anything but my own thoughts. I turned towards the other side of the Gate when I heard someone yell my name. He was trying to make his way across or around the gate to get to me. I dropped the bags someone had placed in my hands on the way off of Icarus and made my way towards him.
"Thank god you're okay." He whispered in my ear as we crashed into each other. He held me as I kept my face in his neck to hide the tears of relief that slowly fell down my face. The noise kept growing as more and more people came through the Stargate; some injured and some just shaken. Nick pulled me away from the crowd and towards the console in the front of the room. He spent a few seconds trying to read the console, trying to find out where we are, before he gave up and moved up the stairs and through a hallway.
We walked for a few minutes; he held me close to his side as I tried to get my tears to stop. Wherever we were jolted and a red haze crossed over my eyes. That was when I realized we were not on a different planet, but on a ship. He stopped us as we came upon a room. He opened the door, and the first thing we saw was the beautiful haze of a 'Faster than Light' jump.
~~~~~~~~~~~Flashback~~~~~~~~~~~
I was sitting in my room doing one of the few things I did on my days off. I was playing a computer game; "Prometheus". Jared, a friend I had made while playing, was video chatting with me while we both played the final level. He had yet to beat it, and I was about to try for my first time. The game itself wasn't as complicated as I had thought it would be. Everything is in a language I had never seen or even heard of, but I had quickly figured out what the symbols meant and what certain buttons did.
"The core is the power source. Channel it into the weapon and destroy the ship." I spoke into my headset as I did just that. A couple seconds later I had almost enough power to fire and destroy the enemy ship.
"Can't do it, dude." Jared likes to think he's though shit, but I was about to kick his ass and finish the game before he did.
"Doing it, and don't call me 'dude'." After the ship was destroyed I moved my player towards the holograph on the wall. If I had my translation right, it was instructions on how to open the "Gate". All I had to do was finish a math proof in the same language and then type the answer in.
"It's one of those programmer's jokes. It's a problem that can't be solved." I had just about finished the proof and started typing the entire proof into the game.
"Just solved it, sweetie." My player took out a hand held console and started pushing buttons while I continued typing.
"No, you didn't"
"Be quiet, Jared. Just watch." As soon as I had finished typing in the answer, the proof disappeared and the screen flashed white. When it came back online, I was back at the beginning of the level. My eyes widened, and I felt cheated.
"What the hell!"
"What happened?"
"Nothing. Nothing happened. I'm back at the beginning."
"You're so full of yourself."
" No. No, it worked, I know it did. The code locked in!"
"Whatever." I sat in stunned silence as Jared turned off his camera and shut off his game. I pulled off my headset and tossed it at the screen. I rubbed a hand over my face and then sighed while shutting down the game.
"That was extremely unsatisfying."
~~~~Next~Day~Afternoon~~~~
I looked up from the cutting board when I heard a knock on the front door. I set down the knife but took an apple slice with me as I went to open the door. I almost choked on said apple slice when I opened the door to a man wearing military clothing and a patch that said O'Neill.
"Harley Crouse?"
"Yes, that's me. Can I help you with something?" He turned towards the car that was sitting in my driveway. When the door opened and the man turned to face us I knew my jaw was hanging open and the apple slice had fallen from my hand.
"Dr. Rush?" He walked up the sidewalk leading to my front door with a smile on his face as he nodded.
"Ms. Crouse, how are you?" I couldn't restrain myself and ran up to him to hug him. I had taken all of his courses while I was in college, and he was my favorite professor.
"I'm good. Oh my god, I can't believe it's you! How are you?"
"I am very well Ms. Crouse, thank you." His smiled was contagious and I couldn't help but smile wider in response. When he was in a good mood, it seemed as if nothing could go wrong.
"What in the world are you doing here? And with a military escort?" The question seemed to remind him why he was here in the first place because his smiled dimmed a bit and he looked at the other man.
"Ah, yes, that. Well, would it be alright if we came in?"
"Oh, yes! Please, both of you, come in." I lead them into my living room and offered to get them something to drink before we got to why they were here; they declined.
"So, what's going on Dr. Rush?" I asked as I sat down. They exchanged a look and Dr. Rush looked back at me with something I couldn't understand in his eyes.
"Last night, you solved the Dakara weapons puzzle in the online fantasy game 'Prometheus'."
"That's what you're here about? Dr. Rush I'm sure you solved it faster than I did, I mean, it's not like it was that difficult." He looked at me; shocked. I stared at him as it clicked in my mind. Why he was here with the military, and why he knew in the first place. I looked from Dr. Rush to General O'Neill and back again.
"What did you do? Why is a top-secret proof in a game, Dr. Rush?" He sighed and pulled a clipboard out of the briefcase I hadn't noticed until now. He handed it over to me.
"It's a non-disclosure agreement." I took it from him, still trying to process what was going on. They wanted me to sign something that prevented me from talking about the proof, the answer, and their involvement. I nodded my head as I slowly stood and made my way to the kitchen.
"The bookcase is to the left, and the remote to the TV is in the cabinet." I said to them before I walked into the kitchen and started to read the document. I had only read the first couple sentences before Dr. Rush came into the kitchen and sat across from me at the table. I shook my head as I continued to read the fine print.
"How in the hell did you get involved in the Stargate Program?" I looked up at him, waiting for an answer. I shook my head again and skipped to the last page, and that's where I saw what they really wanted. They wanted me to help them dial the Ninth Chevron. I threw the agreement on the table and then paced the length on my kitchen a few times before I spun on Dr. Rush and looked him straight in the face as I gave him my answer.
"No." He shakes his head before looking at me like someone killed his puppy.
"You don't have much of a choice, my dear." I could feel the tears well up in my eyes and before I had a chance to stop it, one slipped out and down my cheek. He stood and pulled me close to him, his arms around my waist and my head on his shoulder. He still smelled the same, even after all these years. He pressed a chaste kiss to my temple before whispering in my ear.
"I'm sorry, Love. Hold on tight." And the next thing I knew, I was looking over his shoulder at the Great Lakes region of North America from space. I let go of him to look out of the huge window and at the Earth below. I leaned against the railing in awe at the sight in front of me. I have never seen anything so beautiful. He leaned on the railing next to me and watched me take in the sight.
"You deserve to be here. This will change everything, Harley." I looked over at him and smiled at his serious face. I nodded in agreement.
"I know. It's shock, I guess. I had always hoped you'd bring me in on your big project, but after three years, I figured you forgot about me, or that you'd finished without me. I wasn't expecting this, Nick." I turned back to the window to watch as we slowly drifted away from Earth. I sighed as I turned around and leaned on the railing.
"I want to be here, but you don't need me. You've never needed me." He smirked at me and flicked my arm. I grabbed that part of my arm and pouted at him.
"I need your brain. You figured it out, not me." I laughed at that more than I should have, but I could not believe this man thinks I did it all on my own.
"There isn't anything I know about Math or Science that you didn't teach me, Nick. You would have figured it out." I snuggled up onto his side and rested my head on his shoulder. I could feel him rest his cheek on the top of my head as he whispered to me.
"I am glad it was you. If it had been anyone else, I wouldn't have been as happy as I am right now." He kissed my forehead before pulling me away from the window and towards the mess hall.
~~~~~~~~~~~EndFlashback~~~~~~~~~~
Nick and I were leaning against the railings in the observation room, just watching everything fly by us, when we heard the door open. Master Sergeant Greer and First Lt. Scott looked through the window with awe plain on their faces as they saw where they were.
"Were on a ship." Scott said softly as he reached us. Nick nodded at him before looking back out the window. He pulled me tighter into his side as he explained.
"The design is clearly Ancient, in the truest sense of the word. Launched… hundreds of thousands of years ago." I looked up at his face and saw his excitement, but he was also worried. This ship was at the other end of the Ninth Chevron, his dream, but I think he understood that no one but him was going to want to stay.
"Is that what their called? Ancient's?" He smiled at me and nodded. I wrapped my arm around his waist and laid my head on his shoulder, watching the colors flash past us.
"Dr. Rush?" Lt. Scott was watching us fly through space. He didn't understand that we were moving away from Icarus, away from Earth. I had no idea where we were in the universe, I didn't even know if we were in the Milky Way.
"Faster than light, yet not through hyperspace." He was awed. This is what Nick had worked the last twenty or so years for, and now it was right in his hands. He had started working on this before we got close, but when we did he never let me in on it. He said it was because it was just a hobby, but I knew he wanted to figure it out. He wanted to do it by himself. I sighed as I remembered how obsessed he was with his project, how he protected it from me. He was going to hang onto this ship with everything he had, and it was going to get him into trouble, I know that already.
"Come, let's see if anyone needs help." I grabbed his hand and smiled at him as I walked backwards, pulling him towards the door. He smiled and pulled me back into his side as we all walked out the door and back towards the Gate room. Lt. Scott's radio clicked and then we heard Lt. Johansen.
"Lt. Scott? Come in." Lt. Scott pulled his radio out of his breast pocket and held it up to his mouth.
"Go ahead."
"We've got a problem. One of the air vents just shut down in here." Scott sighed and closed his eyes. He took a deep breath before continuing.
"Copy that."
"The air is getting thin in here too." Greer said as he started walking faster in front of us.
"The life support system is failing; we should go find a console. We can probably fix it if it's an error in the system." The four of us were running down the halls. Greer and Scott ran towards the Gate room and Nick and I were looking for a Control room. If we didn't get the Life Support System back on, we were all going to die.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~Flashback~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Being beamed to a planet from a spaceship wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I didn't feel anything other than a split second of dizziness; and then we were on the ground, and I was looking at the entrance to a secret military base.
"Wow." I was standing on a flat portion of a cliff and as I walked towards the railing on the edge, I could see the desert valley below. There are rock everywhere, and there were landing strips for planes coming and going right up against the cliff we were on. As I looked around I saw the huge gun on a smaller, but taller part of the cliff. I was still looking at the gun when someone cleared their throat. I turned towards the entrance of the base to see two men; Colonel Young and a younger man.
"You must be the…"
"Contest winner. Or whatever it is you guys are calling it." I shook my head as I turned and pointed to the gun.
"That's a very big gun. Are you expecting company?" They looked at each other and had a silent conversation. They obviously knew each other well to be able to do that. The Colonel turned back to me and introduced the other man.
"This is Lieutenant Scott, he's been assigned to you, Ms. Crouse." I smiled and held out my hand to the Lieutenant before looking back at the Colonel.
"Oh that won't be necessary. I've know Dr. Rush for seven years, well four if you don't count the years he forgot I existed, but anyway. I'm sure he could show me around." I smiled up at Nick and watched as he had a short conversation with one of the men guarding the door. When he turned, we were all waiting for him to lead us to his lab. He smiled at me and held out his hand, and as I took it he lead us through the door.
When we got to the gate room he kissed my cheek and left me with Lt. Scott while he walked up to his lab. I was taking in the site of the gate and all the people milling about, doing their jobs.
"Unbelievable."
"Yeah, it is. It's weird how fast you can start to take something like this for granted." Lt. Scott was leaning against a wall while I was looking at the side of the gate. The inscriptions were small, but readable. It was the same language from the game, but there were new characters that I wasn't familiar with.
"It's amazing."
"Well, we're all glad you're here. You're the genius; you could probably tell me more about this than I could tell you." I chuckled and turned to him while shaking my head.
"All I did was solve a puzzle in a computer game." He shrugged and stepped away from the wall.
"Well, you figured out something Dr. Rush has been trying to figure out for months. Which, by the way, a lot of people were glad to see."
"He would have done it. He taught me everything I know." I looked over to where Nick was talking to Senator Armstrong and his Assistant/daughter. He looked happy, explaining how things work and teaching. I smiled and waved when he looked over at me. He smiled back as he waved me over.
"Yeah, I heard that you were a student of his, before he quit teaching." Lt. Scott walked beside me as we made our way towards Nick's lab.
"Yup. I was one of the lucky ones to be able to take his last class. Then he dropped off the radar and this is the first time I've seen him since." We were close enough to hear Nick introducing people while also explaining what does what, and what certain things no one ever touches and why.
"Now, as you know, up until now we have been unable to channel the precise amount of power necessary to unlock the Stargate's Ninth and final Chevron. However, thanks to some ingenuity from Ms. Crouse here, that problem has finally been solved." The Senator and his daughter smile at me as I come up and stand next to Nick. I smile and nod my head as they looked from me to the computer screen that's about to dial, for the first time, with a Ninth Chevron.
"We've heard that before." I can see that Colonel Young is not a big fan of Nick's, but he seems like a good man.
"This time, we're sure." Nick is glaring so I try to distract him before anything get's out of hand. I lay my hand on his arm as I speak.
"So this is what I figured out?" He turns and nods at me while pointing to the screen and showing me what he did with my proof.
"I embedded the mathematical problem we had to solve into the game. I then engineered your solution into a practical, workable, application." I watch the screen as Sergeant Riley starts typing and the program starts up. A low buzzing fills the room as Senator Armstrong and his daughter come closer to watch the screen. As I hear the buzzing I moved away from the screen and closer to Nick. I grabbed his hand in a tight grip.
"We're dialing now?" I asked. I was worried my proof wouldn't work. I have always been horrible at proofs. They were, for some reason, extremely hard for me. If I didn't concentrate enough I'd mess the whole thing up.
"Just a test to see if we can make a connection." Chevron one was lit up in the locked position.
"And if it works?"
"They'll send an automated reconnaissance drone through to see what's on the other side. Then we shut it down and go over the data. If it looks good, they'll send a team over." He let go of my hand to wrap his arm around my shoulder while he kissed my forehead. Everyone was quiet as we listened to the Chevrons power up and lock. We were at Chevron eight when the power in the base started to fritz.
"What's going on?" Nick gave my shoulder a squeeze before he let me go to see what the reading were on the computer.
"We matched the power requirements down to the EMU. It must work." He was watching over Sergeant Riley's shoulder as the power level's move up the screen into the red zone.
"Power levels in the gate capacitors are going into the red." Riley is typing as fast as he can, trying to stabilize the power and get everything back on track.
"Shut it down." Colonel is watching as Nick pushes Riley aside and tries to do it himself.
"Wait, wait, wait, wait!" Nick's hands are flying from one key to the next and I can see the desperate look in his eyes as he tries to find a way to fix everything.
"Shut it down now!" Riley shoves Nick to the side and shut's the Stargate down. Nick is standing bent over the table, trying to calm down before he turns back to everyone. I gently lay my hand on his back and he relaxes for a moment before standing up straight and turning to Young.
"It should have worked." Colonel Young nods and rubs a hand across his face.
"Well, it didn't. Drawing power from the planet's core is dangerous so regardless of what's been spent or what's at stake, my primary responsibility is to ensure the safety of the people on this base." His voice is polite, but I can see in his eyes that he thinks he has very little time to deal with Nick, so he's saying what he wants, without thinking about the repercussions of his words.
"Of course Colonel. We know that, I think we're all just a little disappointed it didn't work out the way we had hoped it would. That's all." I grabbed Nick's hand and pulled him back to the board. It wasn't until five minutes later that I realize people were starting to leave the room.
"Colonel?"
"Yes?"
"You should be careful with what you say, you might give people the impression someone has no regard for human life." I glared at him before turning back around and over to Nick.
~~~~~~~~~~~FourHoursLater~~~~~~~~~~
"There has to be a mistake in here somewhere. The power flow was in the target range. Why wouldn't the address connect?" Nick was looking at the board as we tried to figure out what went wrong. We had been over the calculations dozens of times and I had showed him how I finished the proof the first time.
"Maybe it's the wrong address." I shrugged as I looked up from my notes. He was standing with his hands on his hips and the white board marker hanging out of his left hand. He shook his head and sat in the chair next to mine.
"There is only one, found in the ancient database in Atlantis." He sighed and leaned his head back over the edge of the chair.
"It has to be your proof." I chuckled and nodded while gently slapping his knee.
"You know better than anyone how bad my proof's are. But you wouldn't have missed it, Nick. You would have caught it before you even tried dialing out." He sighed again before getting up, grabbing the eraser, and started erasing the problem on the white board. My eyes widened and I got up and to him as fast as I could. I grabbed his arm and pulled it away from the white board before he erased the whole problem.
"Nick! What are you doing?"
"Starting from the beginning."
"Okay, wait. Just calm down." I took the eraser out of his hand and set it on the chair. I grabbed his hands and gently rubbed my thumbs across the top of his hands.
"We'll figure this out. You're a genius and I'm here to help you keep your cool. Don't worry, okay? We'll solve it." He sighed and rested his forehead on mine. His eyes were closed as he tried to calm himself. I let go of his hands and gently pushed the hair hanging in his face behind his ears. I let my hands rest on the sides of his face as I stepped closer to him. I felt his hands rest on my hips as his breathing evened out.
"Do you remember when we first met?" He chuckled as he nodded. I couldn't stop the smile that spread across my face; he remembered. I took his hand in mine and he moved his other hand to the middle of my back. I took a breath before I started singing the song I wrote a week after he left me three years ago.
"I heard you were just passing through, I never meant to get attached to you, The day we met - I still hold onto, It was out of the blue, You played a show, And we locked eyes, by the stereo, I fell into your eyes so blue" As I sang, in a whisper in his ear, he buried his head in my neck as he lead me in a slow, swaying dance through his lab.
"No matter how it goes, goes, goes, I just want you to know, know, know, I'm reminiscing, thinking 'bout us kissing, Now could you take, take, take a million miles away, way, way?, It's you I'm missing, In this long distance" We would dance and I would sing to him every time he would become surly, or frustrated with his work. It was my way of calming him and getting him to take a break every once in a while.
"We keep in touch, though out of reach, I almost wish we didn't meet, It's not enough to keep a romance sweet, I was out of my mind to let you in, I should've thought of you as just a friend, And now you've got me right until the end" I would sing songs that I myself had written, or I'd sing his favorite songs from the radio. He liked classical music, and opera, but I could sing neither, so he would tell me the songs he liked that he heard on the radio.
"No matter how it goes, goes, goes, I just want you to know, know, know, I'm reminiscing, thinking 'bout us kissing, Now could you take, take, take a million miles away, way, way?, It's you I'm missing, In this long...," I had spent weeks listening and learning new songs, just so that I would have something new to sing the next time he needed me.
"But it makes a good story anyway, All the memories created in one day, I guess they've found a place to stay, So we're keepin' up with this phone tag, Missing messages and signs that we're not okay, Just pretend you feel the same" He took care of me in his way, and I took care of him with my singing. When I found out he had been married, but that Gloria had died from cancer, I made sure to be with him on that day every year I had him. I would hold him, and sing in his ear about love, hope, and forgiveness. It was my way of wanting him to be okay.
"That no matter how it goes, goes, goes, I just want you to know, know, know, I'm reminiscing, thinking 'bout us kissing, Now could you take, take, take a million miles away, way, way?, It's you I'm missing, In this long, distance" We were still spinning around the room but my song was almost over, so I let go of his hand and took a step closer to him as I wrapped my arms around his neck. He put a hand on the back of my neck and kept the other tight around my waist. When the last note left my lips he pulled away from my neck and I wondered if he would finish the dance the way he always had.
I kept my eyes closed as I caught my breath and waited for him to either let me go, or finish this the way I wanted him to. Before another thought entered my head we were interrupted by a throat clearing behind me. He kept a hold on me but I knew exactly who it was when he stiffened and let go of me like I was on fire. I took a deep breath and turned around to face Colonel Young.
"Yes, Colonel Young?"
"Ms. Crouse, I'd like you to join me for dinner in the officer's mess." They way he spoke made me think it was not an offer, it was an order. What Colonel Young didn't realize is that I don't take orders from anyone. The smile on my face at that moment must have been filled with anger because I could actually see the surprise on the Colonel's face.
"Oh, well, thank you for the offer, but unless you're going to invite Dr. Rush as well, I think I'll be fine in the regular mess hall."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~EndFlashback~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
By the time Nick and I made it to the a control room, buttons were flashing and alarms were beeping through the room. He ran to the lit up console on the left and I took the one on the right. We spent five minutes going through the data the screens showed up, but the only thing I was understanding was that life support wasn't working properly.
"What's going on in here?" I looked up and saw Greer, Dr. Park, Mr. Brody and Scott. I leaned against the console and looked back down at the data.
"The life-support system is on, but for some reason, it's not working properly. I'm attempting to reset it." Nick was still poring over the data at his console and twisting the star looking thing to keep the data moving over the screen.
"I can only read about half of this, so I'm not going to be of much help, but he's right. It's malfunctioning." I hear a click and when I look up Greer has his rifle pointed at Nick. My eyes widen as I watch his arm steady and get ready for the shot. Dr. Park and Mr. Brody move as far away from Greer and Nick as they can. I slowly walk towards Nick with my hands raised, palms out towards Greer.
"Greer, if we don't do something, we are all going to die." My voice is level, if a little shaky. I can see Scott watching me, and Greer watching both Nick and I. I only have a couple feet before I'll be right in front of Nick, and right were Greer is pointing his rifle at.
"Step away from that thing." He is not kidding. His arm is steady and he has a clear shot right at Nick's heart. I can feel my heart thudding in my chest as I watch both the gun in his hands and his eyes. Only a few more steps before I can fix this.
"Don't touch it, Rush." Scott is watching as I slowly move towards Nick, he knows exactly what I'm doing, but we both know that Greer isn't stupid. He won't shoot unless he really has to.
"If the oxygen aboard this ship falls below critical level, it will become increasingly difficult to concentrate. We will not survive more than three hours if it goes there." I don't think Nick even realized I was moving until now. I'm standing right next to him and he knows what I'm doing.
"Back off now or I will shoot!"
"You'd shoot an unarmed woman?" The barrel is aimed straight at my heart. It had taken half a second for me to move in front of Nick. His hands were on my waist, trying to move me behind him. He kept whispering in my ear, telling me to move. I wasn't going to move until that gun was out of Greer's hands. I planted my feet on the ground and held onto the console so he couldn't physically move me out of the way.
"Lower your weapon, Sergeant!" Scott is glaring at me. That's okay. I'd rather him glare at me than have that gun pointed at Nick.
"He already screwed us once, I'm not gonna let him do it again." I shook my head and lied to the man pointing a gun at me, for Nick.
~~~~~~~~~~~~Flashback~~~~~~~~~~~
A whole group of people were waiting to be evacuated to Earth. Someone was trying to bring down the base, and everyone was either waiting to leave, fighting back or helping the wounded. Nick and I are in his lab with Sergeant Riley, getting ready to dial earth.
"Dr. Rush? I'm reading a dangerous energy spike in the core." Riley is sitting in his chair watching the computer and doing what he can to keep the energy levels where they should be. It's not working.
"Harley, Harley, I need your help." I was standing at a console on the other side of the room, trying to read the data outputs. When I look up I see Nick almost sprinting across the room to me.
"With what, Nick?" I step out from behind the console to get to him half way across the room.
"The Ninth Chevron." My eyes widen and I shake my head.
"Nick, we don't have time for that!" He takes a deep breath and grabs my hand.
"Look, it took us two years to find this site. The properties are unique. This may be our last chance." He catches me when I fall after another bomb shakes the base. Ceiling tiles are dropping to the ground around us and he's still talking.
"If this bombardment continues, the radioactive core's going to go critical." My eyes widen as I realize what he's saying. If we keep getting hit, the core of the planet is going to explode, and if it does while the Stargate is open to Earth, it could transfer the energy to Earth and blow it up.
"Okay, Okay! If my math works-" He interrupted me before I could finish my sentence.
"We can't assume that!" I grabbed his hands to keep him from pulling his hair out. I knew my grip was tight around his hands, but I was worried. We didn't have much time.
"If! If it works, it's not a power supply issue. It's the gate address!"
"We've known the first eight symbols for years. The Ninth has to be the point of origin!" He shook his head and let go of my hands to scrub at his face.
"What if we're not on the planet you're supposed to be dialing from?"
"This is where we are!"
"Yes, but what if we are not suppose to be here?" We're looking at each other and I can practically see the light bulb go off above his head when he understands what I'm trying to say.
"Chevron One locked." Sergeant Riley is dialing Earth. Colonel Young gave him his orders, and he was going to do it if we didn't give him the information we have.
"Okay, the symbols on the Stargate are constellations as seen from Earth. That's what you said."
"Yes, Yes." He nods at me.
"What if Earth is supposed to be the point of origin?" His eyebrows skyrocket up his face.
"Chevron Two locked." Riley is still dialing Earth.
"The only viable power source was here, light years away." Another bomb is dropped on the base, and Nick and I hold onto each other to stay upright.
"Chevron Three Encoded."
"What if that doesn't matter? What if it's the only combination that will work, like a code?" I shake my head and hope that everything I've told him will help us get out of here.
"Chevron Three locked."
"A code." He looks at me with awe while we try to stay standing as the base collapses around us.
"Yes!"
"Chevron Four encoded."
"Stop the dialing sequence!" Nick rushes over to Riley while Riley shakes his head.
"I have my orders." Nick scoffs and pushes Riley out of the chair.
"Get out of the way. Get out of the way! We can't risk dialing Earth." He's typing in the command to stop dialing Earth and when he finishes the sequence, he starts the dialing process with the Ninth Chevron. After a few seconds of typing the Stargate begins to rotate and lock the Chevrons in place. I watch as the event horizon opens the worm hole, and then stabilizes.
"That is impressive." Nick walked up beside me and wrapped an arm around my shoulders.
"Power's fluctuating at critical levels." Riley is holding his left shoulder while watching the read out's on the screen; I guess Nick pushed him too hard.
"What's everybody doing? I ordered an evacation!" Colonel Young just walked through the door with an angry expression on his face. As soon as he realizes everyone is crowded around the edge of the Stargate he start's yelling.
"We couldn't dial Earth, Colonel Young. It's the Ninth Chevron address." He's glaring and Nick and I, but he doesn't understand.
"What?" Colonel rushes up the stairs at us while we try to explain.
"The attack started a chain reaction in the planet's core. There's no way of stopping that. Any blast could easily translate through an open wormhole. It's too dangerous to dial Earth." Nick is trying to explain the best way he can, but Young doesn't listen to anything he's saying.
"You could have dialed somewhere else. Anywhere else!" I step away from Nick and glare at him.
"No, we couldn't! Any blast could translate through an open wormhole! This is the only way we know we won't hurt anyone. It's unknown yes, but it's very possible that it's deserted. So if something comes out behind us, it won't hurt anyone but us!" Young is still glaring at me, but something in his eyes tells me he's starting to understand, if only a little. He look's to Nick.
"Shut it down."
"It's too late. We can't." Nick says while shaking his head. Young pushes a short breath out of clenched teeth before looking at Riley.
"Riley!"
"System's not responding, sir." Riley speaks while typing, still trying to get the Stargate to shut down.
"I need to get these people outta here."
"We have a way out." Nick says and then points to the active and stable Stargate.
"We don't know what's on the other side! Dammit, Rush!"
"It can't be worse than here, can it?" I say and then hang on tighter to Nick as the base shakes again. He tries to hold me steady but we both stumble into a wall.
"Nobody move. Await further instructions." And then he's walking out the door, leaving us all standing there waiting for the okay to get off the crumbling planet.
~~~~~~~~End~Flashback~~~~~~~~
"That wasn't him, Greer. That was me. I told Riley to dial here because if he had tried to dial Earth it would have destroyed both planets." I took a deep breath and glared right back at Greer.
"I am going to press that button. It's going to fix the life support, and then you and I and everyone else will be able to breathe and think much better."
"Move Harley." Scott is a lot like Colonel Young; give an order, get results. Not this time Scott.
"I'm not moving until he gives you that gun, Lt. Scott."
"Okay, look, Sergeant. I know we are in a tough situation here, but I am giving you an order. Lower your weapon." Greer is watching me, testing to see if I will stand in his way if it really means having to get shot. He must have seen either my fear of getting shot, or my resolve to standing in front of Nick because he lowered the rifle and then handed it to Scott.
I felt my strength leave my legs as soon as Scott took the gun, and if Nick hadn't been holding me as tight as he was I would have fallen to the floor. He turned me around and held onto me as he slid to the floor.
"Oh my god. Are you insane?" He kept whispering into my hair as he held me. One of his arms was around my waist, holding me to him, and the other was carding through my hair as he held my head to his neck. I wrapped my arms around him as tight as I could even though I was shaking. He kissed my cheek and then my forehead and whispered into my ear.
"Don't you ever do that to me again." He took a deep breath and kissed my cheek one last time before pulling the both of us up off the floor. He kept me tight in his side as he walked me over to Mr. Brody and Dr. Park. He leaned me against the wall between the two of them. I needed something to hold onto to keep myself upright I was so shaky, that he pulled my arms from around his waist and pulled Dr. Park in front of me so that I could stand. He pulled the hair from my face and wiped the tears that were still silently rolling down my face and held my face in his hands.
"I'll find you as soon as I get this fixed. I promise." He kissed my forehead and stepped away, letting my full weight fall on Dr. Park. He looked at her and nodded his thanks.
"Look after her." She pulled me tighter to her but further behind Mr. Brody, maybe she thought I would feel safer if I couldn't see Greer. I wouldn't feel safe until I was in Nick's arms again. I was hiding behind my hair with my head on Dr. Park's shoulder and I could feel my heart beat slowly start to calm. I tried to listen for Nick, he was on the other side of the room, but I could hear him growling at Scott.
"Keep him away from her. If the military has a problem with me, you do what you have to do, but not where she can hear it or see it." I watched him out of the corner of my eye and through a little bit of Dr. Parks hair. He walked away from Greer and Scott and towards the console. He pressed the button all of this had started over and waited.
"So?" Scott was still standing with Greer's gun in his hand and in a position that, even I knew, would make it impossible for Greer to try and take it from him. That helped calm my heart more than seeing Nick up and walking did.
"Well, I suppose that would have been too simple." Nick growled and then slapped his hand down on the console before stalking out of the room. I closed my eyes and tried to push myself off Dr. Park and gain my balance to follow him, but my legs wouldn't keep me up. Dr. Park barely had a hold of me and I almost hit the floor. I was picked up, bridal style, in strong arms covered in black sleeves. I knew it was Scott, Greer was in fatigues, and Mr. Brody was wearing a blue button down.
I felt exhausted all of a sudden and didn't even have the strength to open my eyes or move my head. I heard Scott ask Dr. Park to grab his radio and Call for Lt. Johansen.
"Lt. Johansen, this is Dr. Park."
"Yes, Dr. Park?"
"Harley Crouse is in shock and looks to be unconscious. Lt. Scott is carrying her to you now."
"She shouldn't have been moved!"
"She fainted in his arms."
"Okay, fine. I'm still in the Gate room. Bring her here."
I could feel Scott walking as fast as he could with me in his arms down the hallways and towards the Gate room. My head was on his shoulder and after what seemed like hours I could finally lift my head and move my arms. I wrapped them around his neck, so I didn't fall with all the movement, and tried to get down.
"Wait, wait, Harley. We're taking you to T.J. now. Just hold on." He tightened his hold on me and started walking faster. I could see Mr. Brody walking in step with him, a look of intense worry on his face. I assume that Dr. Park is right behind me, also keeping up with Lt. Scott. I don't know where Greer is, and I'm not going to look behind Scott to see if he's following us.
"No, I'm fine." I try again to get him to let go of me but he wouldn't budge, he just kept moving down the hallway towards the Gate room. I sighed and let myself relax.
"Fine." I let my head rest on his shoulder while he walked. I tried to focus on getting myself better, but my mind kept running back to Nick. I was worried about him. He was annoyed and worried about me and that would distract him from getting the life-support back up. We all needed him to be at his best right now, and I was worried he wouldn't be.
I was laid down on the floor and a blond woman shined a flash light in my eyes. She checked my pulse and listened to my breathing before she started asking questions. I closed my eyes and tried to block out as much noise as I could; it was giving me a head ache.
"What happened?"
"Greer was pointing his gun at her."
"Excuse me?" Lt. Johansen stabilized my neck with what felt like a coat and continued doing what she needed to make sure that I was okay.
"Greer was trying to prevent Dr. Rush from touching anything, and when he pointed the gun, she walked in front of Dr. Rush. After it was over she couldn't stand on her own so Dr. Rush asked me to hold her while he fixed the life-support problem." Dr. Park was talking in a whisper, and by now, Lt. Johansen had finished with her examination and seemed to be waiting for Dr. Park to finish and for me to wake up.
"Why would she stand between a gun and Dr. Rush?" I wasn't asleep, I could hear everything they said and I figured now was as good a time as any to announce myself.
"Because I couldn't risk losing him again." I opened my eyes and once again Lt. Johansen shined her flashlight in both of my eyes. I pushed her hand out of my face and started getting up.
"I'm fine. It's just a head ache." She tried to keep me on the ground. Her hands were on my shoulders try to push me back down, gently of course.
"No. no, don't move. You need to rest." She shook her head and started pushing harder. She didn't want to hurt me but she didn't want me up and moving either.
"I need to find Nick so I can help him get the life-support working." I glared at her as I pushed her arms off of me and slowly stood. It took me a second to get my balance, but when I had it I looked at Lt. Johansen and Dr. Park.
"Thank you both for your help, but I'm fine. Dr. Park, we need to find Nick and help him get the life-support running again." Dr. Park nodded, got up off the floor, and helped me walk out of the Gate room and down the halls. I was reading the symbols on the walls and doors, and after five minutes of walking we found Lt. Scott, Mr. Brody, Greer and Nick.
Greer, Mr. Brody, and Lt. Scott were facing Nick, their back's to the door of the room Dr. Park and I were just now walking through. Nick was watching the console so he didn't see us either.
"It's a star map." Nick looked up when he heard my voice. I walked around the map and the console towards him. He smiled softly at me and pulled me into his side while kissing my forehead.
"That's the Milky Way." Mr. Brody said as the circle around Earth, on the star map, blinked.
"I believe it's a… visual log of the ship's journey." Nick said as he watched the console roll through the data.
"Is that where we are now?" Lt. Scott is watching the map but when he speaks he looks at Nick.
"No, that's where the ship originally embarked from." He shook his head as he answered, his eyes moving to the star map in the middle of the room.
"Earth." He nodes against the side of my head.
"It's leaving the galaxy." Mr. Brody says as the map pans backwards, leaving the galaxy. As it moves back a line shoots out from Earth and starts connecting to dots on the map.
"It did. Long ago."
"That was Pegasus." Dr. Park points to a dot already so small we can barely see it, while the line continues to move further and further away from Earth.
"So these points are more stars?"
"No. They're galaxies." I shake my head as I realize just how bad this is. We are never getting home. I sigh and lean my head on Nick's shoulder and hide in his neck.
"Rush, where the hell are we?" Lt. Scott asks in a whisper, and while it takes Nick a few seconds to answer, what he says scares me.
"Several billion light years from home."
A/N: Okay, the song Harley sings to Rush is called "Long Distance" by Megan and Liz. I'm going to try and keep to the show, but something's I want nothing to do with. I won't say anything now, but if you've seen the show, and read a chapter and something from the show is missing, just assume I wasn't happy with it and that I left it out on purpose. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it, and PLEASE REVIEW! Thx.