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*Borrowed dialogue from SG-1 ep 10.01

For those that read the last chapter just after posting, I went back and edited the very end, adding two lines. I have included them at the beginning of this chapter, just so you don't have to go back.


"Major Dallon, do we have her?" Emerson's voice begged for an answer.

"That's a negative, Sir." Gwaine choked out, slowly lowering Merlin's body to the deck.


Merlin had been standing in a cleared space, in the center of the room. Medical personnel had been stationed nearby, waiting to receive Colonel Carter. They had all felt the intangible power building from the seemingly young man. There was no doubt now, that most suspected Merlin of being alien in origin.

The warlock had closed his eyes. His hands were spread before him, as the spell began to work...or so it had appeared.

Merlin's eyelashes fluttered, golden irises barely visible. Gwaine's brow had furrowed in concern. He had felt like something was going wrong, though there was no way for him to put words to his gut instinct. The first outward sign of confirmation, was a small trail of blood that had begun to drip from Merlin's nose.

He was about ready to stop the spell, whether it was by snapping Merlin out of his self-imposed trance, or what...he didn't know.

Then, Merlin screamed.

Reacting immediately, Gwaine jumped forward to catch his friend, before the warlock's body collapsed to the ground.

He stepped back, just as the medical staff sprang into action.

"Where'd she go, then?" Emerson asked.

Gwaine looked at Kvasir. The Asgard blinked and shrugged; wholly unfazed by the development.

"We're not sure. She's not here." He informed the commander.

"She's not on our radar anymore." Emerson responded. Gwaine heard the commander give the next order to the helmsman, a man named Marks. "Move us out of weapons range of the Lucian ship."

"Colonel Emerson, I'm alright!" Carter's said through her radio, and all those listening sighed with relief. "There is a cloaked Tel'tak nearby. The pilot has beaming technology installed, but their communications were damaged during the fight. Their cloak is kind of stuck in the 'on' position. So, they couldn't give us any warning."

"That's great, Colonel! Any chance they can beam you over here to give us a hand getting our systems back online? Leave your suit over there so we can continue to communicate with them, and if they are able to take on any survivors, that would be a great help."

There was a brief pause, before Carter responded, "He said, he'll do what he can."


Immediately after the transport beam faded, Carter was brought straight into the infirmary. She glanced at the bed next to her, and was surprised to see Merlin. His skin was ashen and pale. Mitchell came over to her, and filled her in on what had transpired when the British Colonel attempted to use his magic to retrieve her.

She smiled encouragingly at Gwaine, who sat at his friend's bedside. "Leon and Percival say 'hi.'" She informed him, as a medical technician began to look her over.

"Is that who saved ya?" He gave her a crooked half-smile.

She couldn't help but take notice, that he was nothing like the jovial man he had been years ago, or even months before. The situation was difficult for the them all, but there seemed to be something more brewing inside Gwaine's thoughts. Carter nodded, "He was able to lock onto Arthur, before the Korolev exploded."

Gwaine released a visible breath of relief. He was surprised to hear that Leon had brought his ship to the actual battlefield. After thinking about it for a moment, he realized that, like all the knights when it came to Arthur, any sanity or logic usually went out the window. "Good. Thank you."

Mitchell's eyebrows rose in desperation. "Did they happen to get Jackson as well?"

Carter blinked against the sudden formation of tears in her eyes. She shook her head. "Any news on Teal'c?"*

"No, but we have something for you."* Mitchell motioned to Marks, standing just behind him.

"We downloaded the black box data from the Korolev."*

Mitchell continued to fill her in. "We know six people were able to get off using the beaming technology. None of them was Jackson. However..."*

She took a tablet he handed her, and started to read it over. "The Rings were also activated. Daniel."* She concluded.

"You betcha."*


A plastic cup filled with water and ice, was gripped idly in his hands. He stared at the unconscious man in the bed. He tried to will his friend to open his eyes; to show some sign of life, aside from the steady, slow beep of the monitor nearby.

"How's he doing?" Gwaine asked, coming up next to Arthur.

The former king shrugged and sat back in the chair. It had been three days since the battle. The last time he had seen Merlin, was as the warlock was rushing off after Colonel Mitchell. Everything on board the Korolev was in chaos. Systems had been down all over the ship. Though he barely understood all the jargon, the context was there...things were bad.

He was a warrior, and he had known early on that they were losing the battle. Arthur had tried to stick with Dr. Jackson, but when the archaeologist had rushed off to the Ring Room, they had become separated. Everything seemed to be going wrong. The world was literally exploding around him. Then, in a blink of an eye...for one single moment...it had frozen, and he found himself safe on Leon's ship. He had no clue what had happened to his friend, and the other men he'd come to know.

The view out of the window at the front of Leon's ship, was like watching the television thing that he'd recently been introduced to. "Where's Merlin?" He had yelled, immediately noticing the warlock was missing.

Percival had explained that, with the explosion, they hadn't been able to get a solid lock on him.

For a few hours, they had floated in space. Leon had cursed and banged around, inside various panels and compartments, while giving orders to Percival for what he needed to fix his ship. The first non-essential system Leon had managed to get back online was one of his communication receivers.

The three men had cackled in relief, when they heard Mitchell's voice...and Merlin's.

They had overheard the chatter between the Odyssey and Carter. Arthur knew he had been panicking about Merlin using his magic. Leon was trying to beat Merlin to the punch, in saving Carter. The scream through the air waves had torn Arthur's heart out. Moments later, Percival caught Colonel Carter in his arms, as her had knees buckled inside the suit, under the sudden weight of the ship's artificial gravity.

Leon had looked at Arthur, who nodded his assent, before agreeing to assist wherever he was able to. His orders afterward were to head to Earth as soon as they could, in order to regroup with Arthur and the others.

Arthur had been beamed over to the Odyssey, not long after Carter had been sent back. He had almost brought his sword, but the eagerness the others had shown...especially Dr. Jackson...when Merlin had casually mentioned it, stayed his hand.

It didn't really matter much anyway, he knew it would have only been an illusory fix if it had worked. Instinctively, he knew the issue went deeper.

He was silently seething at Merlin's limp form; hooked up to similar medical apparati that he, himself, had been subjected to months before. It was illogical to think that Merlin, even after so many centuries, would think of his own well-being...that just wasn't part of the warlock's nature.

Sighing again, Arthur sat forward. "When I told you not to change, I didn't mean that you shouldn't take care of yourself...idiot."

"He'll be fine, Arthur." Gwaine said, willing himself to believe his own words. "They're about to start beaming people down to the planet, so that they can Gate the injured back to Earth for proper medical treatment. I figured you'd want to go with him."

Arthur nodded absently. "You're coming, too?"

"Naw. I got orders to stay here for awhile, since they're short-handed. I'll be rotated out in a couple days; once the critical have been taken care of."

Silently, he watched Gwaine for a space of a few heartbeats. There was something deeper in the dark brown eyes of his friend and knight. He briefly pondered about asking Gwaine, but instead, he sidestepped the issue. "Any word from Colonel Mitchell?"

"Yeah. They successfully rescued Dr. Jackson, but Chulak was almost a total loss."

"That was Teal'c's home, correct?" Gwaine nodded in answer. Arthur swallowed a hard lump in his throat. "A whole planet?" The idea of such devastation chilled him to the bone.

"It's what these Ori do." Gwaine breathed out. His voice felt like a distant echo. "Fanatical devotion, or total obliteration; pick your poison."

Putting the cup aside, Arthur leaned forward and steepled his fingers under his chin. "I think you need to get out of here, Gwaine. It's time for you to join us. With Leon and his ship, we no longer need the Gate, and it's obvious we know just as much as they do about the Ori...or perhaps, more."

For a fleeting moment, Gwaine's eyes lit up with excitement, but it disappeared just as quickly. He shook his head, regret clouding his face. "I can't."

"Why not?" Arthur demanded.

He opened his mouth to respond, but was interrupted.

"Major Dallon." A young man in a green jumpsuit said, coming upon them. "They're ready to send Colonel Emyrs down to the planet, to join the next group being sent to Earth."

Gwaine nodded and thanked the man. Medical personnel moved towards the bed, ending the conversation between him and Arthur.

"We'll speak about this more later." Arthur said to him, as they stepped back and let the medics work. Within hours, they were back on Earth.


IF YOU WERE GONE IN ANOTHER LIFE
I DON'T BELIEVE I WOULD JUST SURVIVE
I COULD FEEL YOU NEXT TO ME
AN ESCAPE FROM THE WORLD I'M IN
OH, I'M AFRAID OF THE WORLD I'M IN

~Katie Herzig, Lost and Found


This chapter marks the end of part 4. Part 5 is shaping up to be a lot of fun, and a lot more AU from Stargate as I bring my ideas together. (Although, there still may be some SG-1 that I draw from...a couple of episodes in particular :D )

Please take a moment to review, if you would be so kind! Short or long, I love you all!