Chapter 4: It's a little ... disconcerting.
After three days of intensive training, covering procedures specific to the SGC, weapons, refresher field first aid and a whole truck load more information about what he was likely to find out there, Lorne was scheduled for his first trip 'through the gate'.
He was nervous, not that you'd know it from his outward facade. Evan had years of experience at hiding his inner feelings and that skill had certainly come in handy since he'd arrived at the SGC. He could probably run a course and title it 'how to look professional while your mind is just going off', or something like that. His thoughts had been running at supersonic pace for days – it was tiring, enlightening, and just plain crazy but he wouldn't take back his decision to sign up for anything. Especially not with his agenda for the day only moments away from starting. He'd wanted to check out a dial out beforehand but they'd kept him so busy he hadn't been able to. So this wasn't just his first time through the gate, it was his first time seeing it in operation.
"Major," Evan turned to see Colonel O'Neill making his way through the gate room doors.
"Sir," he greeted the other man with a faint smile.
"Heard you were heading out for your first time – thought I'd tag along, make sure you got there in one piece," Jack said whimsically.
"That's very generous of you Sir," Lorne replied, "although could you maybe not refer to my being in pieces? It's a little ... disconcerting."
"Feeling a little edgy are we Major?" Jack smirked, watching the younger man closely. He was good. If Jack didn't empathise with what Lorne was feeling – because he'd stood in the same spot over six years ago himself and still remembered it like it was yesterday – he would be hard pressed to detect any of the nerves he knew Lorne was feeling.
"I wouldn't say edgy Sir," Evan countered, suppressing his smile of amusement. "More like ... cautiously enthusiastic."
"Very diplomatic," Jack complimented. "So, you ready to take the leap?"
"As I'll ever be," Lorne replied.
Nodding, Jack turned to look up at the control room. "Dial it up," he called out.
Evan felt the tremors through the concrete floor as the inner circle of the Stargate began to spin. It was louder than he'd thought it would be – stronger, and more mechanical too.
"Chevron one encoded," Walter Harriman's voice announced as the first triangular marker clicked in and out again, remaining lit.
"I take it you spoke to your family," Jack asked as the gate continued to spin.
"I did Sir," Lorne shrugged. "They weren't happy but they understand. I've been doing this for a lot of years now – I guess you can get used to just about anything given enough time."
"Chevron two encoded."
"We'll do our best to get you back here from time to time," Jack promised casually. Lorne knew that he was more than just the leader of SG-1, impressive as that was .... the scuttlebutt on the lead team was the stuff of legends. O'Neill was also General Hammond's second in command – so it meant a lot, that he'd offer that reassurance.
"Chevron three encoded."
"Thank you Sir," Lorne said gratefully, eyes shifting from the spinning circle to the Colonel for a second before being drawn back.
"Chevron Four encoded."
"Does he run through that every time the gate get's dialled?" Evan asked curiously, nodding back towards the control room window.
"Every ... single ... time," Jack confirmed, with a long suffering expression.
"Chevron five encoded."
"I suppose maybe it'd be easy to lose track Sir," Evan offered uncertainly.
"The chevron's light up Major," Jack pointed out intently. "Even I'd be hard pressed to mess that up."
"Chevron six encoded."
"Right, of course Sir," Lorne nodded, a grin even more wanting to break out over his face.
"Wait for it," Jack held up a hand. "This is where it gets ... interesting."
"Chevron seven is locked."
Anything Colonel O'Neill might have said about Walter switching it up for the last chevron was drowned out as the gate responded to that last symbol slotting into place. Lorne just barely stopped himself from flinching and stepping back as a large plume of water burst from the Stargate, engulfing half the room before settling back to form a shimmering puddle inside the circle.
"Holy ...," Evan broke off, walking forward slowly, unaware of how the event horizon was drawing him closer like it was one giant magnet and he was entirely composed of lead. He felt ... energized ... and there was a kind of murmuring in his head, like the gate was talking static to him. "This is ... awesome."
"We like it," Jack grinned. "Time to try it out Major – the Alpha site awaits."
"Right, of course," Lorne took a deep, bracing breath, steeling himself for the unknown. And then he strode up the ramp and through the event horizon without a second of hesitation.
It was the strangest sensation – to be somewhere one moment and then somewhere else the next with no true feeling of the distance travelled. "Holy Fu-ck," he muttered on the other side, trying to take it all in in an instance. It had been just as O'Neill had described – wild and exciting and scary. Evan couldn't wait to do it again!
As he walked down the corresponding ramp inside the alpha site facility he conceded that although he didn't feel like he'd travelled light years his body was reacting. Racing pulse – not unexpected. Slight disorientation, like his feet weren't quite touching the ground – also kind of predictable. All over tingling like he'd hooked up to the ultimate power source – not so much. That was just the physical side of the coin. Mentally it was another story again. He was on another planet ... another planet for God's sake! Theory was one thing but living it, knowing that your boots were standing on soil most of the population of Earth didn't even know existed ... well that was enough to have your head spinning. All together it left him feeling very unlike himself.
Shaking his hands discretely to try and clear that tingling feeling, Lorne turned and watched Colonel O'Neill's arrival.
The older man gave nothing away – either he felt everything Lorne had, even after hundreds of missions, but was really good at hiding it, or he'd gotten used to the sensations to the point they were common place, until there was nothing to hide. Lorne wasn't sure he ever wanted to get to that place if the latter were true.
"Well, what did you think Major?" Jack strolled down the ramp to stand beside Evan.
"Just like you described Sir," he replied simply. "I can see why you'd want to do it again ... it certainly wakes up the system, doesn't it?"
"That it does," Jack smirked. "I'll give you this much Lorne – you're a cool customer. Most people at least pause at the event horizon their first time through but you didn't even hesitate."
"Thank you Sir," Evan smiled, pleased at the compliment.
"Let's find someone to show you around," Jack proposed, moving off. Although he had made the effort to see Lorne's first gate trip it wasn't a frivilous endeavour for him - the Colonel was there to check in with the Alpha site CO, go through training schedules and just generally make sure everyone knew that Earth hadn't forgotten them. That he'd lined up the needed trip with Lorne's was just ... smart.
Lorne grinned, looking back at the Stargate before moving to join the Colonel. Yes, this was definitely part of what he was supposed to be doing. Part of his place in the grand scheme of things. And it settled him inside, knowing that he'd made the right decision.
Back from the Alpha Site late the same day Lorne headed straight for his quarters. They were leaving tomorrow and he still had to pack his stuff, still had a couple of emails to send. And to be honest he felt tired - down to the bone. In the midst of talking about the excitement of gate travel no one had mentioned how exhausting it was. He still had the aftermath of that tingling sensation in his hands and his mind was still humming with what he'd decided was gate 'noise'. Like white noise only a hell of a lot more difficult to ignore. Hopefully that was something he'd get used to with repeated exposure.
Falling down on his bed, Evan stretched out and folded his arms up under his head, staring up at the ceiling. This time tomorrow he'd be a permanent resident of another world for as long as it took for them to complete their mission. A week wasn't enough for that not to feel surreal ... he wasn't sure how long would be - something else for him to find out on the job.
He'd worked hard in the week he'd been back in the U.S. - read more reports and documents than he had in the past year, met with engineers and mining experts, as well as with everyone who'd be going to P3X-403. Not enough to feel like he knew any of them, but enough to get a sense of them and where they'd fit inside the whole. Colonel Edwards had been called away to Washington for his own mission briefing the day after he'd briefed Lorne on the stargate program so Evan hadn't had the chance to form anything other than the first impressions he already had about his new CO.
Closing his eyes, he drifted for a bit ... just on the verge of dropping off the edge into sleep before he let out a pained groan and made himself get up. Starting up his new laptop he rubbed hands over his face, trying to wake himself up along with the computer.
"Okay," he muttered, loading up his email program and typing quickly.
An hour later he'd sent messages to all his friends - to Marcus, Paul, Cade and Neil; to Dom and Ryan in Australia; and to a few others he kept in touch with. He'd confirmed contact details via emails to his Mom and Elaine too and followed that up with quick phone calls to each to say goodbye for now. Both had put on brave voices - told him they'd miss him but that the time would go quickly, which he'd appreciated beyond words.
That just left one more call to make. Checking the time and doing a quick time zone adjustment in his head Evan dialled Piper's home number and waited for an answer.
"O'Hara resident, Robert O'Hara speaking."
"Hey, Rob," Evan greeted Piper's husband.
"Evan!" Rob returned. Evan heard the sounds of muffled movement from the receiver along with Rob loudly yelling for his wife to come to pick up the second handset. "She'll be here in a second," he told Evan. "How's it going over there?"
"It's fine - although over there is now over here," Evan replied. He'd formed a friendship with Piper's husband since they'd met ten months before. Rob had a way about him that just encouraged an openness Evan didn't usually buy into - Rob would interject comments into Piper's emails to Lorne and if he was around when Evan did a video call he'd often sit down too, ask questions and somehow get Evan to admit to things he wouldn't normally admit to. It was kind of a surprise but Evan found himself liking Robert O'Hara - in his own right and as a match for Piper. They just worked as a couple and Evan could understand now why it was she'd always seemed so contented even half a world away from home.
"You're back?" Rob queried. "When did that happen?"
"About a week ago," Lorne said vaguely. "I would have -."
"Hang on Evan, just let me put you on speaker," Rob interrupted. "He's back in the States," Rob told Piper as he pressed the button.
"You're home?" Piper queried, joining her husband. "Since when?"
"Since this week," Evan returned.
"And you're only calling now?"
"Hey, if you knew the week I've had you'd be congratulating me on doing it so quickly!" Evan retorted.
"Right," Piper smiled, noticing Rob's amusement too. "So where are you then?"
"Colorado," Evan said promptly, "but not for long. I'm shipping out tomorrow morning - remote location. You can still contact me but there won't be any instant responses."
"You've only been back a week and they're already sending you out again?" Piper frowned. "That sounds pretty serious."
"It's high priority sure, but nothing dangerous," Evan explained. Getting up, he paced the confines of his room while he talked. "It's just one of those things Piper. I could tell you more but then they'd probably have to kill me."
"Wow, that must really have you frustrated," Piper smiled across at her husband.
"Mr Integrity forced to keep secrets," Rob offered, smiling back.
"Hey, I'm quite comfortable keeping secrets when it's necessary," Evan said defensively, wondering why he'd thought it a good idea to call. He should have sent an email - that way Piper wouldn't have been able to see through him so clearly.
"You just don't like admitting that that's what you're doing," Piper concluded.
"Maybe," Evan allowed. "It's necessary though - you understand that."
"How long are you going to be gone?" Rob asked.
"No idea," Lorne admitted. "Probably a few months but it could be less if things go well."
"I bet Elaine wasn't too happy about that," Piper suggested, "your Mom either." She'd call Grace herself to find out and offer her support. Since she'd met Evan's Mom and he'd returned to Afghanistan, Piper had called her a couple of times just to say hello. It wasn't a duty or an effort - she liked Grace Lorne, for herself and for how much the older woman reminded her of Evan and took as much from the calls as she hoped Grace did.
"Not particularly, no," Evan admitted. "Drew will talk Elaine around though - that's the upside that she went for someone military. My Mom knows enough to understand how this all works."
"So, you're happy about this new post, right?" Piper asked.
"Yes, sure, of course," Lorne said immediately, smiling a little when he realised Piper was the first to ask him that. "Although I have no idea what to expect day to day. Like I said, it's important and with any luck it'll lead to me getting to do things I'd put aside as not achieveable."
"Then I'm happy for you," Piper said quietly. "Even though we'll miss talking to you regularly."
"We'll send you messages though," Rob added. "You'll do the same." He stated that like a fact rather than a decision Evan should make and had him grinning again.
"Sounds like I don't have a choice," Evan shot back. "So, enough about me. What's in store for you guys?"
Piper and Rob entertained Evan with their tag team approach to filling him in on things like Rob thinking about selling his business and Piper taking a transfer to a more administrative position to avoid another tour in Afghanistan. Evan knew she'd been thinking about her future career for a while without coming to a decision - the transfer bought her some time to figure it out. She still wanted to fly ... and was trying to come up with a way to stay a marine, stay in the air, but not get shipped so far away from Rob when she wasn't even used to being married to him yet.
They talked for a few more minutes before Evan regretfully drew the conversation to a close by yawning too loudly.
"You sound tired Evan - you should go," Piper said.
"Yeah, I am tired," he agreed. "Training has been pretty intense - plus I still have to pack my stuff tonight. We're shipping out first thing."
"Well ... good luck," Piper said softly. "You come back exactly as you left okay - no hero stunts."
"Who me?" Evan retorted innocently.
"Yes you!" Piper laughed. "Just behave okay."
"That I can do," Evan stopped in the centre of the room, looking blindly at the floor in front of him. "You guys take care too, okay. I might not be at the other end of the phone anymore but I'm still there if you need to talk - about anything."
"I know," Piper swallowed back the sudden urge to cry, motioning for Rob to speak up and fill the silence.
"We appreciate that Evan," Rob replied for his wife, moving to put an arm around her. "That goes both ways okay - from both of us."
"Thanks," Evan took a deep breath, reigning in the desire to just keep them talking. "Okay - I should turn in. I'll talk to you ... in some format ... soon."
"You better!" Piper insisted. She paused and then finished it reluctantly. "Bye Evan."
"Later guys," Evan returned, lowering the phone and slowly pressing the end button.
And so it was done - all the things he needed to do to put a hold on all his ties to Earth. He was free to leave the following morning with everyone important to him knowing not to expect anything from him for the foreseeable future. It didn't satisfy him - in fact it felt uncomfortable and he didn't like it at all. But it was necessary and if there was one thing he was good at, it was doing the necessary.
Looking around his room he regrouped - there was still packing to do before he could switch it all off for the night.
The next day Major Evan Lorne set foot on P3X-403 for the first time. He'd read all the intel on the planet, seen the MALP footage more than once, and studied all the photos of the terrain. He'd also consulted with the two geologists attached to the air force with a high enough clearance to know about the Stargate program, and worked out a broad plan including where to put their first base of operations, using the topography maps created from MALP and UAV analysis. It was as much preparation as he could do before seeing everything with his own eyes.
The planet was abandoned now but at some point probably hundreds of years ago it had played host to ... someone, identity unknown. What they did know was that whoever'd resided on P3X-403 in the dim dark past they'd forged a number of mines spanning a large part of the main continent. The only reason the SGC even knew anything of the planet's history was that the mining entrances still remained intact, silent tributes to the past. History – the galactic version of it Lorne was still getting his head around – suggested the planet as a possible Goa'uld outpost since naquadah apparently made their world go around as well. They'd abandoned it – reasons also unknown – and Lorne could only hope it wasn't because they'd tapped out every source of the precious mineral.
So there were mine entrances – lots of them – which meant lots of places to start looking. From the pictures all Lorne could conclude was that they were made of black stone that probably had traces of naquadah in it to have stood for so long without visible signs of weathering or age. They were almost elegant in their construction too which intrigued Evan and made him very curious about these prior inhabitants. In all likelihood there were networks of tunnels hidden under the surface too, which meant they were looking at a job of mammoth proportions. They could easily spend months looking and find nothing and still not be sure it was because there was nothing to find.
Colonel Edwards would be joining the team shortly, but until he did Evan was in charge, which basically meant getting their first camp set up was his responsibility.
"Sir?" Captain David Menard stepped through the gate, shuddered visibly and then gathered himself to get his orders.
"Find a place out of the way for the time being Captain," Lorne advised. "Camp site's a couple of hours walk away – we'll hike there in groups."
"Yes Sir," Menard nodded vigorously before hurrying away. Evan suppressed the urge to laugh – the young officer wasn't exactly a poster boy for the U.S. air force. In fact he was more the quintessential geek with his thick rimmed glasses, short and skinny physique and general lack of social graces. He talked too fast and never picked up on when you were done listening, but for all that he was very enthusiastic about his work and from what Evan had read in his last few evaluations, never complained about anything. Outwardly it wasn't obvious but Lorne was pretty sure the Captain would do well on P3X-403. Which was just as well because Menard was slotted to assist Evan with assessing the rock sample compositions for naquadah concentration. They'd be working pretty closely once the set up was complete.
Lorne took up position near the gate but away from the arrival path so that he could direct the traffic coming through from the SGC. The rest of SG-11, minus their CO, arrived first, followed by a couple of MALPs loaded down with equipment. More personnel followed behind – when he had a good sized group Evan directed Lieutenant Ritter to lead them to the camp site.
Jason Ritter was the team's surveyor so he'd been in on the initial planning and decision making for where along the cliffs they'd be locating their base. He didn't react to the order, just nodded and competently began to move his group forward in an orderly fashion. That was Lieutenant Ritter though – on the surface he was Joe Average ... average height and build, brown hair and eyes, no distinguishing features to speak of. It made him a great member of an off world team because nobody ever paid attention and Ritter had learned plenty simply by keeping quiet and observing. If there was anything to be said about him it was that he was studious looking, not soldiery – more brains than brawn. Ritter's job would be to record elevations and map the region around their mine – that required a level of independence he was well suited to.
Rounding out SG-11 was Airman Ben Daniels – young and eager to please he was the muscle of the team. He did what he was told with good grace and helped out wherever he could, always with a smile on his face that said you were doing him the favour.
It was an interesting mix for Colonel Edwards - SG-11 – Evan was sure there had been more than a few times when Ritter's outward calmness had exasperated the CO simply because it was hard to tell what the Lieutenant was thinking. In contrast, Menard's tendency to talk a subject to death probably drove Edwards to the brink of shutting the younger man up, in whatever manner he could. Lorne could almost picture Menard's nervous gulp and quick retreat in the face of the Colonel's brash impatience. Evan had also noticed that Menard stood to attention and saluted the Colonel all the time ... and while that level of formality would have driven Lorne to distraction Edwards just acknowledged it and moved on with very little outward expression. Evan could imagine that maybe he'd tried to tell Menard to relax in the past – Menard had probably nodded earnestly, all the while continuing to salute him.
Yeah, it was certainly going to be an interesting situation and Lorne was actually looking forward to that aspect as well.
"That's everyone Sir," Daniel's brought up the rear behind the last of the equipment and support personnel. In all they had probably a large truck load of stuff and two additional teams of four men each, enough to set up camp quickly and begin the process of testing the first mining site for sufficient naquadah.
"Thank you Airman," Lorne replied, activating his radio. "Stargate Command, this is Lorne. It's all clear from this side."
"Acknowledged," General Hammond's voice came through strongly. "Colonel Edwards will join you tomorrow after he returns from Washington. You let us know if you need anything before then. Good luck Major."
"Thank you Sir," Lorne smiled, clicking off his radio. A few seconds later the wormhole shut down, leaving them alone on P3X-403.
Squinting up at the sky Evan noticed the moons just visible in the afternoon sky – two of them. Aside from that the terrain was so similar to what he'd see on Earth that you could almost be forgiven for thinking you'd never left it.
"Okay people, let's move out," he called out, moving to the head of the second group. "Pick up the pace – we want to get camp set up before we lose the light. Menard – watch that equipment. Daniels, cover our six."
Everyone moved as ordered. Lorne allowed himself a quick grin as he led them out. It was time to get to work.
Authors Notes:
The members of SG-11 listed at the time of Enemy Mine were just Edwards, Menard and Ritter - no first names either. So I added Daniels for the four man team and gave them all first names. More coming soon so stay with me, and thanks for reading!