Title: A Major's Thoughts
Author: Livy1213
Rating: K+
Warning: Little bit of bad language

Spoilers: For this complete fic there will be everything in season two up to Coup D'état Summary: The thoughts and actions of Major Lorne as he helps the Atlantis team on some of their adventures.
A/N: I originally thought of doing a fic like this for only Coup D'état but I love Lorne so much that I decided to do it for all his episodes. This chapter really only has spoilers from up to Runner. I'm using the popular fan name Marcus for Lorne's first name since he has yet to get a canon one.

Disclaimer: The bold parts of this fic are direct dialogue from the episodes of TPTB. It is not my own and I'm only borrowing the character since they aren't mine either. Please don't sue me!

Runner

"You know," said an annoyed Lorne, "when they told me I'd be traveling to another galaxy, visiting strange new worlds, defending humanity against unimaginable alien threats, this just is not what I pictured..."

Major Marcus Lorne of the United States Air Force was tired; tired of Dr. Parrish, tired of plants, and tired of this dark planet that seemed to be nothing but forest. Why did the botanist have to find things here so damn interesting that he had to drag his security escort in every direction? Couldn't the good doctor just walk in a straight line, for Christ's sake, instead of zigzagging between every single "fascinating" flower that crossed his vision?

The Major thought Dr. Parrish was a nice guy but they had been tromping through this dark wood for over three hours. They were originally only supposed to collect a few samples to see if the place was worth another, more thorough, research visit. Lorne had been okay with them staying a little longer then planned. He'd been willing to let Parrish play a little more extensively to keep him happy but now he was regretting that decision.

"We could be saving Earth – right here, right now, Major," Dr. Parrish piped up.

"Oh yeah?" Said Lorne as he scanned the woods for any signs of threat. "How's that?" he asked sarcastically.

Either Parrish didn't catch the snarkiness of Lorne's question or just ignored it. "Through a greater understanding of the long-term effects of severe ozone depletion on plant life. You may not want to admit it, but it's a real danger." The botanist was staring, fascinated at what Lorne thought looked like an ordinary shrub.

"Sure!" said Lorne. "Global warming. Wraith attack. I see the similarity now, you're right." Marcus rolled his eyes thinking of how mundane global warming sounded when they were in another galaxy fighting aliens that could suck the life out of you.

Not really paying attention in the least, Parrish started to wander off and Lorne's security training automatically kicked in.

"Hey, not too far, Doc, okay?" Lorne was worried at how easily they could get lost in this dark. Though he'd never admit it, the place was giving him the creeps the longer they stayed here.

"Ah, not to worry, Major. I don't think there's much chance of any animal surviving the long-term effects of exposure to the sunlight on this planet."

"So not a place to build a summer home?" joked Lorne trying to quell his slight uneasiness.

"It's the fact this vegetation is thriving!" Though they had been here for three hours Parrish was just as enthusiastic as he had been when he'd first walked through the gate. "Somehow it's managed to persist despite what should be extremely destructive ionizing radiation."

Lorne wasn't paying much attention to Botany 101. He was sure they were being watched.

"Oh, would you look at that!" exclaimed Parish. Instantly, Lorne had his P-90 coached and ready for anything. "Now what is a Williamsonia suardiana doing here?"

False alarm. Lorne lowered him weapon almost disappointed. He'd been in Pegasus for about a month and apart from the little excitement of imminent death by Wraith computer virus on the Daedalus, nothing at all interesting had happened on any of his missions. For some, this might be a good thing (no news being good news after all) but after being stuck on a mining outpost with too many Unas for too long Lorne was craving some real excitement. It was one of the reasons he had joined the security force in Atlantis.

He had been lucky to been chosen for the expedition when they were recruiting new personnel after the Siege. Though his experience with the SGC had been valuable many others had more years of SGC involvement under their belts. Everyone inside the SGC and out had wanted to go to Atlantis now that there were return trips. It had only been the unexpected discovery of his ATA gene that guaranteed him the job.

As Lorne glanced down to check his ammo clip, he spotted something on the ground. Was that some kind of blood? It looked almost black.

"Major!" yelled Parrish. Immediately, Lorne forgot what he was looking at and ran to Parrish's side. There it was: a dead Wraith. Even though this was the first time Marcus had even seen a Wraith, he was damn sure this was one. The white hair and green blue skin looked just like how the reports described them.

"Doesn't look like the sun killed him." Marcus commented as he crouched down to get a better look.

This guy (at least he thought it had been a guy) was ugly, probably more so then usual with those nasty gashes in his torso and the dark red blood oozing from his side. Lorne was sure they were bullet holes. What was a dead Wraith with bullets wounds doing on this nowhere uninhabitable planet?

With what looked like a stunner just next to him, it seemed that the wraith might have been caught by surprised since there would have been more evidence of it using its weapon.

They had to get back to Atlantis as soon as possible to report this. Judging by the fact this corpse looked fresh with no signs of burning from this planet's hot sun, the killer could still be around. Lorne just hoped that whoever finished this guy off wouldn't cause them trouble.

"What do we do?" asked a flustered Parrish. Considering the shade of green the doc was turning you'd think the guy had never seen blood before.

Marcus didn't answer instead he activated his radio. "Kaufman, this is Lorne – any activity?"

"No, sir." Came Lt. Kaufman's replay.

"We got a dead sucker here – looks KIA, no more than a day old. We're on our way." The planet was still pretty dark so Lorne grabbed a bunch of glow sticks, cracked them, and dropped them by the body. He got up and started to leave.

"C'mon, Doc, let's get you back to the gate." The sooner they get the civilian out of the way the better. There was some weird shit going on and they needed to get back.

"I-I don't understand." Parrish stammered.

"Well, neither do I. All I know is he didn't do that to himself. C'mon. Let's go."

As they headed back Lorne was in full combat mode, expecting anyone or anything to meet them on their retreat to the gate. He was on edge but it was situations like this that had him at his most calm. It looks like things in the Pegasus Galaxy just got a little more interesting for Marcus Lorne.

Once they had secured the corpse in a body bag, Lorne and Parrish left for Atlantis with the bagged wraith carried between them, leaving Reed and Kaufman to guard the gate and watch for any activity. If the guy who had killed that life sucker was still on the planet it would be better if he didn't go anywhere for the time being.

As soon as he cleared the gate Lorne left Parrish next to the Wraith package and walked up to the closest guard. "Where's Dr. Weir? I need to see her now."

"She's in her office having a meeting with Colonel Sheppard." He answered. "What's so urgent, sir, and, um, what's that?" He added pointing to the body bag probably a bit nervous that it might be one of Lorne's team.

"No casualties, Walker. And I'd love to fill you in on the details but I need to see Weir now. I'm sure Parrish would be happy to explain things. Just make sure that that package makes it to Beckett right away. Okay?"

Marcus didn't even wait for an answer as he started up the gateroom's stairs, two at a time. He didn't have the time and patience to give Walker the lowdown. He knew Walker was reliable and would do what he was ordered without question. Lorne currently had more important matters to take care of.

Currently, the best thing to do with the body was to get it to the infirmary, as there they might be able to preserve it or, hell, maybe even find some use for it.

When Lorne came to Weir's door, he knocked, even though he knew the two heads of Atlantis had seen him coming well in advance due to half of the walls in that wing being glass.

"Come in, Major Lorne." said Weir as she shuffled and put papers away in her desk.

It still amazed Marcus that, in the short time the new recruits from the Daedalus had been on Atlantis, Weir had gotten to know all their names even of those Lorne still didn't know himself. Back on Earth—no, more like back in the Milky Way, it had always taken his commanding offices more then a month to remember his name. Lorne always figured one had to work hard to the point where the CO would bother to know it. Weir was different. He wasn't sure yet if it was a good different, just… different.

"You seemed to be in a hurry Major. What's the big news?" asked Sheppard sitting in the chair in front of Weir's desk. He was still looking at his papers and marking them. "Can't see what could be so urgent about picking flowers." Sheppard smirked and looked up at Lorne as he put down the papers and got up.

Sheppard puzzled Lorne. How did a man with his record and such disregard for authority ever join the military, let alone become the head of it in Atlantis? Lorne may not have known Sheppard for very long but he had heard rumors about the incident in Afghanistan when the first Atlantis expedition left and even more about the circumstances of Colonel Sumner's demise when the SGC had received Atlantis' data transmission last year. Sumner was still a very touchy subject around the city.

"Sir," said Lorne ignoring the Lieutenant Colonel's trademark sarcasm. "We found a death Wraith. It looked KIA, probably a fresh kill. It couldn't have been dead for more then six hours. And, sir, I think the guy was shot with bullets… a lot of them."

Any humor in Sheppard's face vanished when the implications of what Lorne had said began to sink in.

"On your mission? What did you do with the body?" asked Weir urgently in what Lorne was getting to know as her command voice.

"Yes and it's currently in the infirmary, ma'am." Said Lorne.

Weir tapped her radio, "Carson?"

"Yes, Elizabeth," came the CMD's reply over the radio waves.

"I need you to start an autopsy on that corpse Lorne brought back as soon as possible. I want to know exactly how he died." She then quickly switched to the city com system, "All members of Sheppard's team please report to my office immediately." Turning off her radio and she looked at Lorne. "Do you think it's possible for who ever killed the Wraith to still be on that planet?"

Marcus was pretty damn sure of it. "I'd say it's likely."

"Is the Gate covered?" asked Sheppard.

"Kaufman and Reed, yeah." Lorne was positive that if anything happened while he was gone those two would be able to handle it.

Right then Teyla walked in looking mildly curious as to why she'd been called in. Both Lorne and Sheppard quickly brought her up to date on the situation about the dead Wraith. She in turn suggested possible Genii involvement since, according to the reports Lorne spent his eighteen-day trip on the Daedalus reading, they were the only race the expedition had come in contact with who have similar weapons.

Some how Lorne personally doubted it. The Genii may have been smart about hiding their tech from the Wraith but he was sure that if it came down to facing an armed Wraith in a fight or flight scenario, the Genii, like all people in this galaxy, would pick flight.

Suddenly Beckett, whom Marcus thought was suppose to be doing an autopsy, came in with a strange look on his face. Weir asked him about the autopsy but he replied he was not even close to being finished.

After taking a deep breath Beckett continued, "I thought you might like to know this. The enzyme sac under the right arm has been removed."

The answer finally struck.

"Ford!" Sheppard exclaimed, voicing what we were all thinking.

Everyone, including the newbies, on Atlantis knew about Sheppard's guilt over one Lieutenant Ford. Even after weeks, it had still been the talk of the city when Lorne had come in from the Daedalus. There was defiantly going to be a retrieval mission.

Quite soon after this revelation, the pain in the ass of Atlantis known as Dr. McKay came in. It had taken him long enough to get there. And once again, both Sheppard and Weir brought the new comer up to speed about the Wraith, Ford and the future search mission.

Mission in ten minutes? Lorne was okay with that, though maybe not with the part about McKay coming. The guy was complaining about getting a little sunburn!

Well, thought Lorne as he exited Weir's office to pick up some more ammo. Might as well look on the bright side, during this mission I won't have to play the glorified babysitter. I just sure as hell hope I don't get stuck with McKay.

Ten minutes later all of them, along with a couple more men, reported in the jumper bay even the ever-complaining Doc McKay.

"Okay, people, its time to go." Sheppard said as he started up the Jumper and flew through the floor of the Bay.

The Jumpers were truly amazing. They looked like they should be dead weight in the air but they flew better then the finest Air Force jets. Lorne had gotten a few lessons with them, and had really gotten the hang of the part mental part physical control aspect of flying them.

All who had the gene, either naturally or not, went required to learn how to fly the puddle jumpers. Many of the scientists had hated it but Marcus found it thrilling. It brought him back to his old days as a Lieutenant before being recruited for the SGC when he used to fly for the Air Force.

The flight to the planet was short. As soon as they were through the Stargate Sheppard landed and brought up the hub. The display was almost too bright to look at.

"Lifesigns detector's useless," said Sheppard. He shut it down figuring he should have known it wasn't going to be that easy.

"I told you so." Came McKay's voice from the far end of the Jumper.

"Continuing your streak of being right, officially?" commented Sheppard casually falling into the usual friendly banter they did so often. Lorne didn't want to get involved so he exited as soon as the door was open.

"Any activity while we were gone?" Lorne asked Reed as he joined him and Kaufman.

"No, sir."

Sheppard emerged from the Jumper right behind Lorne and started to direct orders for the search. Where was that smell coming from? Was that cocoa? Sunscreen?

It looked like McKay was taking this whole sun thing a little too seriously. Even when Marcus told him what Dr. Parrish said about a day or two of exposure not being enough to kill them, he just disregarded it as unreliable since Parrish was "just" a botanist. Can't the guy learn to trust people? McKay wasn't the only genius on Atlantis.

Sheppard just ignored the physicist and started to pair everyone up into search teams. "Teyla, you're with me; Kaufman, take Villick; Reed: you and Sherman cover the Gate; and Major," with a bit of mischief in his eyes, he pointed at Lorne.

Oh no, thought Lorne.

"You've got McKay."

Shit.

"Lucky me." Lorne muttered hitting his P-90 a little harder then he'd meant to. Sheppard left the Jumper with that smirk on his face Lorne was starting to know all too well.

"Here," McKay offered, showing Lorne the homemade sunscreen. "Try some—SPF 100."

"A hundred?" Lorne asked looking at the physicist in disbelief.

"Yeah, can't buy this kind of protection. Made it myself. Waterproof too." Obviously, McKay hadn't picked up on Lorne's tone.

"Great…" Marcus didn't know what he'd done to deserve this. It was going to be a long mission.

TBC…

A/N: I hope you all like it! Please R&R anything from flames to compliments are welcome! If anyone was wondering, the bold parts of the text are direct quotes from the episode. I don't much like the title of the fic so I'm open to suggestions!