Rodney had both the control room and the jumper sensors wired to feed into the videoconferencing units in three of the largest rec rooms to show the race.
Even though Sheppard and O'Conner had tried to be stealthy by sneaking out the ships after midnight, Rodney had known there was no way the race wouldn't happen once it was planted in their juvenile, race-happy, jock brains. Anticipating this turn of events, Rodney had motion detectors ready to go, set to trip the moment any jumpers were initiated after hours, sending a signal simultaneously to his laptop and his comm. unit. Upon hearing the expected beep about an hour past midnight, Rodney sent out notification messages to the handhelds of several key people before hurrying to his lab to watch the race. Teyla and Ronon showed up while Rodney was making sure his handheld was giving him the access he had programmed to the jumpers' communications equipment at the same time he'd programmed the cameras and other sensors.
Upon entering, Teyla immediately shot Rodney a disapproving stare. "Rodney, you should not be encouraging such childish behavior from John and Brian."
Rodney snorted. "Oh please, nothing could discourage those two from childish behavior and besides," he defended himself. "Do you know how much I stand to gain when John kicks O'Conner's butt?"
"And are you so sure that John will win this competition?" Teyla asked with an arched eyebrow.
"Of course he'll win," Rodney scoffed. "The jumpers practically sit up and beg every time he comes near them. It's disgusting. And John's an amazing pilot," Rodney tacked on a little self-consciously, glad that Sheppard wasn't there to hear the compliment. "Suicidal but amazing."
"O'Conner's really good too," Ronon stated absently as his eyes followed the jumpers' smooth rise into space. He wondered what course they'd chosen. "In a firefight I'd put my money on Sheppard but in a straight race…" he shrugged, dread locks shifting "it'll be close."
"What, no, O'Conner has to lose," Rodney face went slightly pale at the thought of what he'd have to do to satisfy some of the bets he'd made. Especially the one with, shit…Cadman. Face going paler Rodney watched the jumpers enter a series of loops at a dead heat. Shit. Thumbing in the sequence on his handheld that would patch him through to Sheppard he quickly tapped his comm. link.
"John," he whispered, cautiously moving toward the back of the room away from the crowd that was starting to gather around the large LCD screen. "Are you there?"
"Rodney?" John's startled response was followed by an irritated "I'm a little busy Rodney and how the hell did you know I was in this jumper anyway?"
"Oh please like I couldn't see the testosterone levels rising in the two of you at the thought of being able to illicitly drag race in priceless government property," Rodney hissed. "Now listen John, this is very, very important. You need to win."
"Wow, that's very helpful McKay," John's disembodied voice growled into Rodney's ear. "Maybe if I were left alone to concentrate O'Conner wouldn't be pulling ahead of me right now."
At John's words McKay's focus whipped back to the LCD screen and his face dropped in dismay as he watched O'Conner's jumper shoot ahead. "Yes, yes, focus," he ordered hastily and disconnected over John's irritated drawl. A half second pause and his face brightened with a new idea. "Right, right, distractions." Quickly punching in a second code he hit his comm. unit again. "O'Conner," he hissed.
"McKay?" Brian's surprised response was followed by an irritated "Uh, McKay, can this wait I'm a little…"
"Rodney!"
Teyla's voice was stern and Rodney jumped guiltily. "What?" He asked defensively. "I'm just…"
"You will stop bothering John and Brian now."
"But I'm…"
"Rodney."
"Fine," McKay snapped back and disconnected Brian's pissed off tones. "But if I end up having to call Zelenka 'Sir' for a week this base will know my discontent!"
TBC
A/N - Sorry, these chapters are a bit short. I decided to post as written rather than doing one longer post. Should be one more to wrap it up.