Chapter Twenty Five – Old Friends
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Specialist Ronon Dex walked through the gate wiping a thin sheen of perspiration off of his face. The chill of the working air condition in the old city prickling his skin. The mission had gone surprisingly well unlike the last one he'd been on. Halling had been very effective in his way of dealing with the preparations for the actual ceremony. The burial had been taken care of as it had been inappropriate to wait any longer. When Teyla was cleared for gate travel again, which wouldn't be long considering this special mission she was to embark on, there would be chanting, festivities in the Acclosian honor and a feast to honor the wandering souls.
Ronon knew that the rest of the team would attend too and that John would assign back-up in the form of marines and jumpers should anything go awry. He also had a feeling that Major Lorne, Captain Gaspari and Captain Longhorn would attend too as the Acclosian's believed in honoring their dead, not mourning them. In fact, as he thought more about it, he expected everyone that had been even remotely involved in revealing the secrets of the underground facility to attend the feast in honor of the dead.
He felt both tired and filled with energy as he stalked off from the gate room in order to talk with Teyla, relying messages from Halling.
Coming around a corner he suddenly stopped and narrowed his eyes at the very familiar Scot coming his way from the other direction.
The man stopped with a frown and then broke into a grin. "There ye are," he said happily.
Ronon too broke into a grin as he closed the distance and gave the other man a bear hug before lifting him up.
"It's good to see ye, Ronon," Carson said jovially.
"Missed you, doc," the Satedan said succinctly as he put down the Scottish doctor.
"Listen, I was on my way to the mess hall. Why don't you come?" Beckett asked.
"Got a few messages from Halling to Teyla," he let on. "But I guess it can wait," he added.
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Jennifer Keller was starting to worry. Rodney had missed his check in and he wasn't in his lab or down in Janus's lab. Zelenka had no idea where he'd got to as he was bent over a piece of equipment that obviously could refill depleted ZPM's. In between marveling if such machine would be too good to be true and that she really should continue her report and check in with Doctor Biro, she was starting to feel weary. Too little sleep and too much worry in a short period of time was catching up with her. She'd left Radek and his French assistant in the depths of Atlantis power core and headed back to more familiar grounds when she ran into Major Lorne.
"Evan?" she said in surprise. "What are you doing down here?"
"Not to worry, doc," he said in his comforting, soft voice as he gave her a faint smile. "I'm only walking, not doing anything strenuous."
"Hmm," Jennifer mused as she crossed her arms over her chest.
"Don't look so skeptical, Jen, I'm only down here to help Radek. We're going to rig up an experiment," he explained as a bunch of marines walked up to them.
"That's what I was afraid of," she let on with a smirk.
"Ma'am," the three young marines said in chorus, temporarily causing her to shift her attention from the Major.
She nodded.
"Why don't you go ahead? You know what to do," Lorne commanded the newly arrived as he wanted some time alone with his friend.
"Yes, sir," one of them replied curtly and the three of them continued toward the lab.
"So," Jennifer began as she saw the marines turning around a corner and turned back to focus on Lorne, "Maybe I should stay?"
Evan chuckled. "Nothing's going to happen. I assure you," he said kindly.
"That's what Colonel Sheppard usually tries to assure me," she replied, undeterred.
"It's a weather experiment," Lorne let on. "We have been rearranging and adjusting the shield emitters around the city so that they converge on focal points. That in turn would, if we're lucky, emit a charge high enough to boost one of our depleted ZPM's."
Jennifer frowned and then nodded curiously. "And what exactly is the charge?" she wondered aloud. "I don't see a single cloud so there isn't going to be any thunder and lightning any time soon."
Evan looked at her sheepishly, his features so boyish, she almost couldn't contain a chuckle.
"Actually we're going to use a jumper, concentrating the fire power on the emitters. Radek is going to keep an eye on the shield while we do it," he answered.
"How's one jumper going to stimulate enough juice to spark a ZPM?" Jennifer asked curiously. This time eliciting a chuckle from the Major.
"You've spend far too much time with our Canadian genius," he replied.
Jennifer suddenly remembered why she'd been in the vicinity in the first place. "Speaking of Rodney, where is he?" she asked concerned.
"He was on the Apollo, annoying Colonel Ellis last time I heard," Evan let on with a smirk, earning a playful slap on his shoulder.
"Thanks Evan," she said relieved. "What are you doing tomorrow? I could use a nice and quiet afternoon with a brush and a canvas."
The Major smirked then broke into a cunning, yet cautious smile. "Well, since the CMO has confined me to light duty I don't see why not?"
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To be continued
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