December 7th
Evan's efforts of the prior day hadn't yielded any results … Eldon's village elders were still adamant that Lorne and his team take down Torrell with only the tools they had with them. For a group of people who'd struggled to stand up to the criminals in any way at all, their insistence sounded like a hypocritical tall order as far as Lorne was concerned.
He needed Eldon to get involved but the young man had been strangely backward, despite his demands back on 990 that he needed to be a part of taking Torrell down. Lorne expected the kid to be more confident and purposeful in the village, because he'd learned a lot while living in Atlantis and the boost of his family welcoming him back with open arms surely would have added to that.
Half way through the sixth morning of their stay on Olesia, when Coughlin, Reed and Chiang were fully engaged training their three separate groups of locals, Lorne stood in the doorway of their hut, watching Eldon across the way. He had a pile of odds and ends and a few tools stretched out on a tattered rug, almost in the middle of the dirt path that passed for 'main street'. As far as Evan could tell the other man's chief purpose seemed to be showing off – there were three girls who looked to be around Eldon's age mending sheets directly across from him. They sat clustered on a log that passed as a bench – from his current distance Lorne couldn't tell which particular lady had claimed Eldon's interest.
Making his way casually over, he stopped a few paces away, amused when Eldon didn't notice him, so focussed was he on entertaining his audience. One of the girls kept glancing up at Eldon from under her lashes – the other two spent more time checking their friend's reactions to Eldon's show. She must be the one.
"So," Evan said loudly, even more amused when Eldon startled before glancing up at Lorne, a blush rushing over his face. "Come here often?"
"W-w-we have v-v-very f-few t-tools that aren't br-br-broken," Eldon rushed to say, his eyes shifting to check whether his girl was still watching.
"Right, and I suppose you're doing your repairs out here because there's more space," Lorne commented, a half smile crossing his face.
"Th-that's r-right," Eldon agreed. Grabbing each end of the blanket he hoisted all of his stuff up, slinging the make shift sack over his shoulder.
"You're done?" Lorne put disappointment into his voice. "And this was just getting good."
"I-I-I know w-what you're doing," Eldon muttered, sending his girl a longing kind of look before striding off in the other direction.
Lorne followed, keeping pace easily. "And what would that be?" he asked blandly.
"T-t-teasing me because y-you're still a-angry I f-forced you to c-come here," Eldon stated. He headed for his own hut but Lorne put a hand to his elbow, applying enough pressure to redirect the other man's path.
"We need to have a little chat," he told Eldon pleasantly.
"I-I h-have things t-to do," Eldon protested, stumbling as he tried to break away.
"You were just pretending to fix something to impress a girl!" Lorne shot back. "This looks good enough," he propelled Eldon behind one of the larger huts, currently unoccupied. "What makes you think I'm angry?"
"B-because I p-promised we'd l-listen to your ad-vice b-but we're n-n-not," Eldon replied, suddenly finding the ground beneath his scuffed shoes very interesting.
"No, your elders aren't listening," Evan corrected irritably. "I think you listen just fine Eldon. You know exactly why we need to bring Atlantis in on this."
"Th-there's n-n-nothing I can d-do," Eldon protested.
"Bull," Lorne retorted. "Without you they have a gate anyone could step through. That's leverage Eldon, leverage I need you to use."
"Th-they won't l-listen to m-me," Eldon exclaimed. "I-I-I tried b-but they tr-treated me like a kid."
"Then we need to change that," Lorne said purposefully.
Eldon looked sick at the prospect of confronting those in charge in the village. Scanning their surrounds, Lorne noticed Eldon's crush walking across the field with her two friends. "Who is she?" he asked, nodded to where the girls were disappearing into the distance.
"Elana," Eldon breathed out the name like it was a prayer.
"Does she know you like her?"
"I-I-I …. No," Eldon stumbled to admit.
"But she motivates you to try hard," Lorne stated intently. "You want to impress her, show her what you can do. You want to protect her from Torrell and his men and anything else that threatens her. She's the reason for everything you've done to save Olesia from what Torrell is doing to it."
"H-how did you -?" Eldon looked at Lorne, startled at how accurately Evan had described his inner feelings.
"How did I know that's what you're thinking about Elana?" Lorne queried. When Eldon nodded, Lorne looked to the horizon, back in the direction of the gate, his expression turning wistful. It was day seven now … the only comfort he had as his absence continued was that at least Jennifer had the advent house to remind her how much he cared. Evan hoped like hell his daily reminders were helping her – if he'd known he'd end up stuck off world for a week and counting he probably wouldn't have started his 25 day long proposal – it was just as likely his notes were upsetting Jenn and that was a thought he couldn't afford to entertain.
Every day's message was ingrained into his brain – he'd spent hours refining and editing them, hours more writing them and hiding them in the miniature house. Memory serving him well he knew the current day's message by heart.
"You are the reason. I know, sounds like a corny love song, but if anyone where to ask me why, no matter what the question was, the answer would be Jennifer."
He hadn't exactly used it in talking to Eldon but the fact that he'd written that specific message brought the motivation a man could feel because of a woman into his mind.
"How did I know that's what you're thinking about Elana?" Lorne repeated. "Because I have a girl too, back in Atlantis," he told Eldon quietly, eyes still on the fastest way back to Jennifer. Putting hands to his hips he regarded Eldon intently. "More than just my girl Eldon. My fiancé … almost. What do you think she's going through right now? What do you think she'd been doing since you dragged us here?"
"W-worrying about you," Eldon muttered, almost too low for Lorne to hear.
"That's right," Lorne said grimly. "I want to protect her just as much as you want to Elana and right now you're standing between me and doing that."
"W-who?" Eldon stuttered.
"You remember Jennifer Keller?" Lorne asked.
"Sh-sh-she was always nice to me," Eldon commented. He looked at his feet again, thinking. When his shoulders straightened as he focussed back on Evan, Lorne knew he was finally getting somewhere. "What do you want me to do?"
"I'm planning to confront the elders again," Lorne smiled. "You're going to come with me and you're going to convince them to bring Atlantis in on this."
"Y-you want me to threaten th-them, don't you," Eldon grimaced, that sick look appearing again.
"In a manner of speaking," Evan put a hand on Eldon's shoulder and got the man moving towards where the elders usually congregated. The five men, literally the oldest people left on Olesia, seemed to do nothing more than sit and talk – all day. Lorne found it tried his patience and his ability to keep a lid on his irritation if he had to sit for more than an hour listening to them.
"I-I don't think I can d-do this," Eldon tried to dig his heels in but Lorne was blind to his protests. They needed action and if Eldon was serious about saving what was left of his people then he needed to play a part.
"You can do this," Lorne said firmly, making a beeline straight to his destination.
"Good morning Major," Privic, the head of the elders greeted Lorne pleasantly.
"Morning," Lorne drawled. Done with the presence that they were here willingly he pulled Eldon forward, all but shoving him in front of the five. "Tell them," he urged.
"M-Major L-lorne is right," Eldon rushed out. "They can't disable Torrell's vessel w-with the w-weapons they have."
"And what makes you the expert?" Privic seemed amused at Eldon's gumption, sharing a chuckle with his comrades.
"It was me who disabled the Stargate," Eldon suddenly sounded much surer of himself. "And I can undisable it too!"
"Yeah, made a mistake laughing at him," Lorne thought, silently applauding Eldon.
"Are you threatening us?" Privic demanded, angry.
"Yes, if you continue not listening," Eldon shot back. "W-what did we bring Major Lorne and his team here for?"
"To help us defeat Torrell and his gang."
"And why did we need help?" Eldon continued.
"Because we couldn't do it by ourselves," another of the five admitted, exchanging a meaningful glance with those nearest him.
"Exactly!" Eldon smiled triumphantly.
"But we no longer need to do it by ourselves." Privic nodded to something behind him. It happened fast – Lorne felt the press of a weapon against his spine, an arm wrapping around his neck tightly enough to cut off a worrying degree of air.
"Don't!" Eldon shouted.
"You will do nothing to fix the Stargate unless we say so," Privic ordered. "And you will claim Major Lorne's weapons and adapt them for our purposes. Given your success at making weapons from nothing during your first stay on this island I feel sure this is within your capabilities."
"I made an a-agreement," Eldon protested, almost crying he was so agitated. "I promised Major Lorne we wouldn't do this!"
"Then that's makes you an even bigger fool. Perhaps you should have checked with us first before being so presumptuous." Privic nodded to the man holding Lorne.
"Eldon," Lorne croaked out. "Run."
Before anything could happen, before Evan could see whether Eldon had done as he'd asked, a heavy object slammed down on his head and the world went dark.