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Chapter Two
Corporal Barry Flynn was more than a little peeved. He'd come to the Pegasus galaxy with the idealistic dream of being a successful recipient of Beckett's famed gene therapy so that he could operate all the cool ancient tech he'd read about in mission reports back at the SGC.
The fact that the therapy hadn't worked for everyone was common knowledge but he was smug enough to assume it would take first time with him. After all, he considered himself in the best of health, at peak physical condition, and there should be no reason for the treatment to fail. He was just the sort of man the doc would be looking for.
He was therefore astonished and more than a little angry when the doctor's first attempt had failed and against Beckett's better judgement he'd convinced him to try again.
As he strode angrily from the infirmary, barely managing to toss a salute at Colonel Sheppard, he'd been almost incandescent with rage. Obviously the doctor had done something wrong for the therapy to have failed. Despite the word that Beckett was a genius in his own field, clearly he was starting to lose it.
Flynn had bragged to so many of his fellow marines about how he'd be flying a jumper, maybe even piloting his own away team on daring missions to rival those of the flagship team, and now he was going to have to eat a huge helping of humble pie.
He could almost see the scorn and derision his so-called friends would direct at him and with retrospect he realised if he hadn't bragged quite so openly things might have been better.
Even so, he was an angry man and his temper wouldn't be easily quieted by the small voice of reason. He pushed it to the back of his mind and told it to shut up as he contemplated what he should do next.
Major Lorne walked towards him as he made his way back to his quarters and Flynn almost hoped the man would move on past without speaking, but his luck just wasn't holding that day. It wasn't that Flynn had had time yet to develop any antipathy towards the Air Force major but the fact that the man possessed the ATA gene was enough to put him in the newly-formed enemy camp as far as the disgruntled corporal was concerned.
"Corporal, how did it go with the doc?"
Flynn cringed mentally at the very question he'd hoped not to have to answer...for about a millennium. He eyed the major and considered his response.
Evan Lorne had been one of the lucky ones to have been given the therapy before leaving Earth and he could still remember the thrill he'd felt as he realised what a gift this would be in the strange new world they found themselves in. Being able to operate ancient equipment gave them a tactical advantage over those they regularly butted heads with in this screwed up part of the universe.
Flynn wasn't quite ready to confess his failure so he did his best to gloss over the question.
"Probably too soon to tell, Major. Doc says to give it a chance. So, where are you off to?"
Lorne's brows rose at the impudence of the unexpected question. This man was still a raw recruit as far as Atlantis was concerned.
Too many of the new arrivals stepped off the Daedalus full of experience from either battle arenas on Earth, or even having taken on the Ori with the SGC. But out here, as the colonel never failed to brief them on first meeting them...out here, none of that was worth a dime. The rule book had to be re-written and it was yet to be proven that the Wraith could read, anyway. That comment never failed to raise a chuckle from the newbies but only a wry smile from the old hands. Literacy skills, or lack of, amongst the Wraith was the least of their problems.
Flynn wasn't on the roster for off-world trips yet but the major knew what it was like for the new arrivals. They would have spent the long flight from Earth hearing about the exciting times some of the away teams managed to have and itching to get into the action. Some lucky ones who showed early aptitude would be assigned training skirmishes whilst those stuck at base seemed to pull nothing more exciting than gate room guard duty or the assignment from hell, inventory.
He looked the marine over from tip to toe and pondered his next move. The lad was obviously fretting over something and Lorne suddenly had clarity of insight that the gene therapy hadn't worked after all.
He could remember so clearly the first time he'd activated ancient technology and the thrill he'd felt at the ability to use the strange and sometimes wonderful stuff they found. To not have that ability would have been like losing a promotion, your career stymied simply because of a genetic defect.
"If the colonel hasn't rostered you for anything else you can come with my team for a reconnaissance mission to P3X 247. Reports of an ancient ruin may well prove unfounded but that's our bread and butter, Corporal, nothing more exciting than going and finding out. The nice, easy milk runs are few enough out here so we take the down time when we get it."
Flynn heard the word mission and tuned out anything else Lorne was rambling on about. He was quick to volunteer the information sure to get him on the major's team.
"I saw the colonel in the infirmary with his pet scientist, McKay. Looked like he was getting ready to hold the man's hand. I don't know why the colonel puts up with such a whining civilian on his team."
"You'd do well to keep your thoughts to yourself, Corporal," Lorne reprimanded. "Like it or not, this is also a scientific expedition and Doc McKay is the head of the science department. Besides, he's proved himself more times than not; it just takes a while to get used to him. And if the colonel thinks highly enough of him to have him on his team you'd be advised not to question him. Unless you'd like me to tell the colonel you have something to say about his leadership qualities?"
Flynn fumed silently at the rebuke. He didn't think he'd said anything to warrant it. After all, McKay's reputation as a windbag was well talked about in the squad room and he'd thought he was on safe ground mentioning something he thought sure the major would have grinned about.
If Lorne didn't watch his step he'd find that Flynn could be someone he didn't want to cross.
He shook his head resentfully but suddenly realised his actions and attitude could prove problematic so he straightened and smiled at the officer.
"That won't be necessary, sir. I'm sure the colonel has very good reasons for his decisions and doesn't need the likes of me telling him what to do. And I'd be more than happy to join you, sir." Suddenly he was the poster child for Marine Recruitment. "I'll just go and gear up. Are we going on foot or by jumper?"
Lorne pondered the shift in the marine's personality. He sometimes wondered about the level of psych screening at the SGC before sending these kids out here. Fighting the sort of monsters that would feature in the stuff of nightmares wasn't something that everyone could cope with.
He inspected the soldier carefully, wondering if he should just send the kid back to the squad room to lick his wounds for a while. But he couldn't fail to see the hope in the younger man's eyes: it never got old travelling in the ancients' flying ships and this would be Flynn's first experience.
Against his gut instinct he made his decision.
"Be in the jumper bay in ten, Corporal, or we go without you."
00oo00
Sheppard never really felt he was off duty even though he had complete confidence in Evan Lorne so when his XO was off base Sheppard kept himself close to the gate room and command centre.
He had an office around here somewhere but he seldom used it except when he wanted to make himself unavailable, and the last time he'd checked, it had been over-run by dust bunnies.
Lorne's scouting mission had reported back about 30 minutes ago that they'd found a few artefacts and were bringing them back but otherwise the trip had been unexciting and totally uneventful, just the sort of report Sheppard was glad to receive.
They'd had a few hectic weeks of constantly running into trouble on even seemingly innocent scouting missions and he himself wasn't that long back on active service after a mishap.
So it was with some surprise that he met Lorne limping heavily as he made his way from jumper bay to infirmary for his post-mission check-up.
He stepped up beside the shorter man and matched his slower pace.
"Care to fill me in and save me from having to read your report, Major?"
He carefully inspected his second-in-command but apart from the limp he didn't seem to be badly hurt. Of course, he'd wait for Beckett's final report but it looked like Lorne wouldn't be off the roster. Or maybe he could persuade the doc that Lorne needed to do some desk duty for a while. He could handle the dust bunnies.
Lorne sighed and rubbed at his eyes with a grubby hand. "Nothing serious, Colonel, probably just bruised toes. It was such a simple accident and it could have happened to anyone. In fact, it's a surprise something similar hasn't happened before to your...er...that is..."
He suddenly thought better of completing his sentence when he realised he was about to call his commander's team accident-prone. Just because they were didn't mean he had to point it out.
John just grinned. "So, bearing in mind that this happened to you, care to go on?"
Lorne accepted the let-off gratefully. "We'd loaded up a crate of ancient doodads and some of those etched stones we've found the last trip we took. Two of the marines were lifting it to start making their way back to the jumper when one of the men lost his grip. It was my bad luck to be standing too close to them as they passed and it landed on my foot. Thank God for regulation footwear. The weight in that crate would have done serious damage if I hadn't been wearing my boots."
John thought it most unlikely that the XO had been crowding his team. Lorne was respected and well-liked amongst the men and his orders were seldom, if ever, questioned. Still, if he was insisting that it was an accident, John had more than enough paperwork on his desk without begging for more.
Elizabeth was insisting that he show the dust bunnies who was master and reclaim his office. The only problem with that, as far as John could see, was that the dust bunnies knew exactly who was master, and it wasn't him!
He stopped and faced Lorne.
"Okay, Major, it's your call. Get Beckett to check you out and let me know if you need taken off the active list. I'll leave it to you to talk to your men about being more careful around the stuff we find. If any of the equipment in that crate had been unstable or explosive, you could have lost your foot or worse instead of just getting bruised. We've enough enemies in this screwed-up galaxy without starting to attack each other."
TBC – reviews would be most gratefully received.