Title: Never a Dull Moment
Summary: There's always something going on in the eyes of Major Lorne as he looks back on his adventures so far in the Pegasus Galaxy.
Disclaimer: All Stargate Characters (and occasional other pop culture references) do not belong to me.
Author's Note: I decided to try something different, but since I love Lorne so much he was the brunt of my creativity. I hope everyone enjoys!
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Major Lorne really did have no idea what he had gotten himself into.
After living off-world the last year trying to teach a civilization of Unas how to mine for naquadah, amongst other things, he had decided that he needed a change of scenery.
Of course that change had to be located in another galaxy.
He had returned back to the SGC and it had been discovered that he had the Ancient Gene. He was immediately offered a position on the Atlantis expedition, seeing as how they now had both a way of communicating with Earth and transportation to and from the Pegasus Galaxy. They had also recruited him because of his rank. Major Sheppard was being reluctantly promoted to Lieutenant Colonel, and so they needed someone with experience to be his Second in Command, to help out whenever possible.
Major Lorne fit the bill perfectly.
It's not like he didn't mind leaving Earth. He didn't really have a place to live, seeing as how his kid sister had taken over his apartment when he had initially left for the Unas Planet. He had gone back to find it completely unrecognizable, and had quickly declined his sister's invitation to stay with her for a while. Even though he did have his sister and his parents, they understood the life of a Serviceman well; his father had been in the Army. He also knew that ever since Anubis and all the other Goa'uld had been defeated along with the Replicators things wouldn't have that same thrill of anticipation for what was next around the SGC.
Plus, the life-sucking Wraith threat seemed more thrilling than snakes that took over people's bodies and pretended to be gods.
He hadn't realized that the fist adventure he would experience would be on the trip to get to Atlantis. Apparently the Wraith wanted to give all the new people a special welcome by hiding a Virus in the computer systems of the Daedalus. Thankfully the impending disaster had been averted, and Major Lorne soon realized that the real adventures had just begun.
His first off-world mission, he had meet his first Wraith, although dead, been shot by a Wraith Stunner used by a former member of the Atlantis expedition, and had had the honor (sarcasm) of dragging Dr. Rodney McKay around the planet in search of said former Atlantis member. It was a very good thing that Lorne had a good sense of humor and a very laid-back nature, because all that in the first mission was certainly a handful. Colonel Sheppard had even given him a quick congrats on the fact that he did so well. But then again, that was his job.
One thing Major Lorne secretly loved was using big guns. So when he was able to use a rocket launcher he felt like a little kid at Christmas. Unfortunately when needed he managed to take out a tree instead of the Wraith Dart, but it was still fun to use. Getting to see a Dart was interesting too, even though it was mostly in pieces. It was even funnier to see Dr. McKay walking around with another consciousness in his mind. Lorne now had the utmost respect for Lt. Cadman for surviving that experience.
He had briefly worked with Dr. Weir when she ran the SGC for the short while, and now under her command he knew that his skills would be appreciated and would be put to good use. So when he found himself escorting Dr. Weir to what initially was a trade negotiation/ get back Colonel Sheppard and his team operation, he knew that she trusted him.
It also helped that because of his ATA gene he was able to fly the Jumpers as well. That had been his first crash-course once he had arrived in Atlantis; Colonel Sheppard had taken him up in a Jumper to test his skills in a staged dogfight. Lorne had passed with flying colors, of course. He was forever grateful to his grandfather, a former Air Force member himself, who had helped him get his pilot's license at the age of 15.
It was a good thing also that Major Lorne wasn't scared of most things. The Iratus Bug, however, was a particular nasty that he was hoping never to encounter again. Losing two of his men hurt, but the potential for loss of life was always there, no matter what the situation. However, he was very thankful that Dr. Beckett managed to cure Colonel Sheppard, as the two worked together very well, and Lorne wasn't too keen on the idea of Colonel Caldwell running the Military aspect of things on Atlantis. Not that Lorne didn't respect Caldwell, he just trusted him more commanding the Daedalus. Plus, Lorne had gotten wind of the changes Caldwell had wanted to implement, and so he was very relieved that Colonel Sheppard would recover. Sheppard's way of command was laid-back, and Lorne liked things relaxed.
Major Lorne quickly realized that no mission ever went as planned. So when he and his team had returned early from a disappointing diplomatic mission to learn that Colonel Sheppard and his team were missing again, he tried to wave it off. Unfortunately that sentiment didn't sit too well with Dr. Weir, and so he and his team headed out to try to find them. Instead, all they found, with Dr. Zelenka's help, was a list of about fifty or so planets that the team could have possibly been taken against their will. Major Lorne respected Dr. Weir, and understood her concern to get her flagship team back, but the chances of getting lucky the first few attempts were slim to none.
Major Lorne had never seen a Wraith Hive Ship, having come to Atlantis after the Siege, so when he saw not just one but two of them, he was shocked, to say the least. It didn't help that Dr. McKay hadn't anticipated their being two Hive Ships either. Lorne said a silent prayer that Colonel Sheppard and his team were okay, and headed back to the Daedalus. He was impressed when they all realized that it was Sheppard who had instigated the two ships into firing on each other, and was also relieved to hear from Dr. Weir that the team had returned safe and fairly sound back to Atlantis.
Major Lorne disliked babysitting. He had always been stuck watching his sister, who was eight years younger than him, and because of this other people in the neighborhood or whatever base they were on at the time always asked if he could watch their kids. It wasn't that the money wasn't decent, it was that there was only so much a teenage boy can take being a human jungle gym for overzealous children. So when he was sent to M7G-677 with Dr. Zelenka, he was prepared for the worst. He was pleasantly surprised to find that Zelenka got the brunt of the kid's abuse, and for the most part they liked him just enough to not overly annoy him. He loved kids, don't misunderstand, but there were just certain ways that kids behaved that made his laid-back attitude not so laid-back. When he got back to Atlantis and heard of the excitement they had had, he was secretly jealous that he hadn't been there to experience it firsthand. However, he knew that he would have his excitement someday, seeing as how there was never a dull moment on Atlantis.
Before Major Lorne left for Atlantis he had taken a quick trip to the barber. His hair had never been long due to regulations, but he knew that it would probably be a while until his next haircut, so an appointment was necessary. The thought was definitely correct, and as the time passed on Atlantis his hair grew out slowly as well. Soon he resorted to his typical side part hairstyle that he had worn for years. Of course, your hair means nothing when you end up being knocked out by your Expedition Leader. Major Lorne woke up twenty minutes later with an incredibly sore throat and a decent bump on the back of his head. It didn't help matters either that he and his team were stuck in the hallway for two hours afterwards, coming to Teyla's aid moments after Colonel Sheppard managed to subdue Dr. Weir. She and Colonel Sheppard were kept in the Infirmary for the next two days, so Major Lorne took over most of Sheppard's duties, while Caldwell reluctantly went back to the Daedalus and let Dr. McKay run the City.
Major Lorne always figured it was something about the flagship team that they always ended up in trouble of some sort. He never figured it would be he and his team in trouble needing to be rescued. Lorne and his team had accompanied Dr. Lindsay on her weekly visits to 177 for a few weeks now, and every week, they had their usual cup of 'bonding' tea, as his team referred to it, and then basically just hung around until Lindsay was done. The last time, however, things got a little interesting. Lorne was sitting there with his men when all of a sudden there one of his men was hit by a Wraith stunner. He quickly radioed Dr. Lindsay to call for help, and then was met with a gun in his face. He was made to change his clothing and remove his dogtags, and then was knocked out. He woke up a few hours later in a holding cell. He quickly found out that he and his team were being held by the Genii, and that they had taken samples of their blood. They ended up taking a few more samples as well while they were being held. Finally Colonel Sheppard, Dr. McKay, and a strike team were dragged into their cell, and soon after that they were all released back to Atlantis by Ladon, a Genii that was planning a Coup. Lorne was given a week off and the first thing he did was take a nice long, hot shower.
Whenever Colonel Sheppard and his team went off world and Colonel Caldwell wasn't around, Major Lorne was automatically the unofficial person in charge of all Military personnel. So when Colonel Sheppard and his team were stuck on Taranis, the giant volcano planet, Lorne was left to issue out military personnel to assist the refugees to emergency quarters as well as provide general security around the City. You could never be to cautious, he thought to himself. He was commended by a quick pat on the back by Colonel Sheppard as he passed him in the hallway on the way back to his quarters.
Being in command of an Ancient Warship was like every Star Wars obsessed little-boy-all-grown-up's dream come true. Major Lorne would never admit he had been obsessed with Star Wars, as he had been very young when they originally came out, but as he got older he enjoyed watching them and secretly wishing that he could go into outer space and command his very own Millennium Falcon. And so now here he was, sitting in the 'big chair' onboard the Orion, parked on the edge of the solar system just in case they were needed. He was a bit relieved that he wasn't on Atlantis while the Wraith were visiting. He hadn't been too excited about the whole Michael situation, but had kept his mouth shut and followed orders during those few weeks Michael was on Atlantis. Now he was in charge of not only Military personnel onboard, but also all the scientists who were working to finish repairing the ship as quickly as possible so that they could help the Daedalus. Lorne sighed silently to himself as he listened to the latest transmission from Atlantis. The Daedalus had been set up by the "Ally" Wraith Hive Ship, and now apparently Dr. McKay, Ronon, and Colonel Sheppard were all missing. That, and the fact that a Wraith computer virus had transmitted the reports on the Aurora Warship as well as the coordinates to every known planet in the Atlantis database. Including Earth. Lorne silently prayed that the scientists could get the Orion up and running at one hundred percent, because he had a feeling that the first mission would be to get to the Milky Way Galaxy as fast as possible.
There was never a Dull Moment in the Pegasus Galaxy, and Major Lorne loved every minute of it.