A/N: I don't know about you guys, but I was really freaking out at the end of Incursion (Part II) and the beginning of Intervention. I couldn't see how the writers were going to resolve all of the deadly situations they'd created. And then I wondered, if I was so worried, what was Eli thinking? Hence this ridiculously short one-shot of his thoughts during that minute he thought they were dead.


Eli leaned against the unforgiving wall, panting as his mind - the mind which had yet to let him down until now – struggled to take in what had just happened. How could it be? Though he'd known they had only a slim chance of survival, he had grown to have a grudging faith in the power of Destiny. Because no matter what happened, no matter how dire and inescapable their fates seemed, everyone seemed to make it out more or less okay. Deadly water? Check. Alien bombardment? Check. Hallucinations, coups, and impossible odds? Check, check, check. But for once, Destiny had let him down.

Scott and Greer were dead. Chloe was close behind. The ship was being occupied by a hostile force. And Eli? He was helpless to stop any of it.

- They didn't make it - he typed, forcing his rebellious hands to move, to do something, anything, constructive.

What would he tell Chloe? She wasn't exactly stable right now and he didn't know if she could take the news. Would he keep it from her? Could he keep it from her? He didn't know if she would even be conscious by the time he got back…

Eli dropped his hands uselessly at his sides. The same hands that had failed to save them – his treacherous mind whispered – hands still stained with the blood of the one he loved. He slid bonelessly down the wall, head falling to rest between those too-red hands. He had to pull it together, Eli realized. Chloe was still back there, slowly bleeding to death. He would not – could not – fail again.

The terminal beeped with a new message. Getting up, he hurriedly read the message and let out the breath he didn't realize he'd been holding. Scott and Greer were alive. It was impossible; the wave should have killed them. But, then, this was Destiny, where the impossible became reality at least twice a week. Perhaps nothing was impossible on this ship. He laughed, the energy flooding back into his tired frame.

"Just another day in outer space," he said with a weary smile.

Destiny had yet to fail him.


Feel free to review. I write half-finished fanfics all the time and either get bored, lose inspiration, or get really annoyed with my lack of writing skills (the reason nothing's been posted for years and years), so apparently 300 word fics with next to no dialogue are the way to go. It also means I should probably stop this A/N here, otherwise it might be longer than the fic. Constructive criticism is always welcome.