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Dragonlots aka Dana Bell
Chapter 8
The little flower looked better than yesterday. Kit added a bit more water and some mulch that seemed to somehow stabilize the plant. Katie had told her that oddest things could help a plant grow when it wasn't native to Earth. Seemed her fellow botanist's experience was paying off and she was very glad the two of them had become friends.
"Actually, Katie," she said as she went to work on the next plant. "I'm very glad you didn't come on this mission. You might have been killed. And wouldn't that have been just awful for a certain Dr. Rodney McKay."
Her friend had told her about the botched marriage proposal and the 'break up' as it were. Not long afterward Dr. Brown had gone back to Earth. Seemed Katie couldn't handle being close to the man whom she come to love and who had rejected her because of his own shortcomings.
'Like all men don't have them,' she'd told Kit.
Kit had sympathized. She'd had her own share of heart breaks and short lived romances. None of them had lasted as long as the relationship between McKay and Katie. Too bad the man was such an idiot he couldn't see that her friend would have been the best thing that could have happened to him.
"Hope I never meet you, Dr. McKay. I might just give you a black eye.'
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"Haven't been up all night I hope," Vala groused as Daniel slipped into bed beside his wife.
"Nope."
"Good. You're late night ship walking is driving me crazy."
"Best time to think."
"Yes, but I get lonely." She curled her body around him.
He kissed her. "I was thinking about your comment."
"Which one?" Vala took off his glasses and put them on the stand beside their bed.
"About Senator Collins."
"Decided I was right?" Her fingers ruffled through his hair.
"He's definitely hiding something."
"I'm sure you'll figure it out." She nibbled on his ear. "Wouldn't you rather be doing something other than talking?"
He pulled her against him. "Absolutely."
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Sam knew she was going to miss Atlantis. She leaned against the gold railing, her blue eyes watching the sunrise over the horizon of the planet. Pink, yellow and blue shot across the sky, dancing on the water with a mirrored affect that took her breath away.
"Jack, I wish you were here." As if to echo her desire, a slight fluttering tickled her belly. She put her hand gently there. "You, too, huh?"
"Good morning, Colonel." Teyla joined her. The Athosian woman looked very comfortable in her loose black pants with a matching top. Her infant son rested close to her breast in some sort of native baby carrier Teyla had wrapped over her shoulder. "I love the sunrises."
"Me, too."
"You will be missed."
"So Colonel Sheppard told me."
"You still do not know who will take your place here?"
"No."
Teyla's hand rested on the railing. "I hope is not someone from the IOA. I do not think Ronon will stay if that happens."
"What about you?"
"I do not know." Her dark eyes met Sam's. "My people have voiced a desire to find a new home."
"We've done our best to make them comfortable here."
"I know. But we are used to growing our own crops and hunting. We can not do that here."
'I understand. I'll talk to my replacement when he or she arrives and arrange something."
"Thank you. Are you looking forward to seeing your husband again?"
"Oh, yes."
The other woman's face held a sad look. "I understand."
Lightly Sam touched Teyla's arm. "Don't give up love. You might find it where you don't expect to."
"You are not the first to tell me that."
Vaguely the colonel wondered who else had but didn't want to ask. John and Teyla needed to figure it out on their own. "I'm going to get some breakfast. Care to join me?"
"I would like that."
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The mining processing ship was dirty, noisy and filled with a camaraderie that Mason enjoyed. He rubbed the head of one of the children who worked there and lent a hand with the repairs of a busted line. Everyone pulled their own weight. They couldn't afford not to.
Most of the fleet depended on them to process the raw tylium to fuel their ships. Other than the Galatica, their ship was probably the most important. He hoped President Roslin wasn't offended at her lesser spot of importance. But even she couldn't fly anywhere in Colonial One unless she had fuel.
"All well, Mason," his fellow worker, Ole' Tinney asked.
"Couldn't be better."
"Good. Needs some 'elp further up the line."
"Always ready to work."
"Know that." The older white haired man grinned. "You's one I can count on."
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"Just got this," General Landry reported to Jack O'Neill. He handed the former SGC General, now retired, a copy of what Dr. Daniel Jackson had sent.
O'Neill had to lean forward to accept it over the dark wood desk he used to sit at. He whistled softly at what it said. "IOA seen this yet?"
A slight smile touched Hank's lips. "Not yet." He sat back in the high back cushioned chair.
"They're going to be pretty mad to learn their team got killed by, what did they call them?"
"Cylons."
"Huh, from the previous reports, I get the impression they're worse than the Gou'ald and the Ori."
"From what the team managed to learn, the Colonials made them, tried to make them slaves which resulted in a civil war."
"Was there a winning side?" He handed the report back.
"Best they could tell, a stand off." Hank took it and put it down in the middle of the cluttered desk. "Hard to ask questions when most of what they wanted to know was common knowledge."
"Yeah. That can be tricky." Jack got up and paced back and forth. "So no idea how long before the Deadalus heads for Atlantis."
"Antsy to see your wife?"
"She's been gone for three months."
Landry nodded his understanding. "Caldwell seemed to think they've learned all they can. Dr. Jackson is hesitant to agree, but I think they'll be leaving in a day or two."
"Good. Sooner my wife is home the better."
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Teyla stood with her people in the currently empty cafeteria. Light filtered in through the stain glass windows making colored rainbows on the floor. She noted the happy sign with a hint of irony before she stepped into the circle they had formed.
"Today, we honor those now dead and separated from us." She had to swallow to keep the lump in her throat from preventing the words she must say. "They live on in our memory and in our stories we will tell our children, and they will tell theirs."
Kanaan had been one of those Michael had experimented on. In the fight that had freed her from the creature's grasp, he had died protecting her and their unborn son. He, and so many others.
Her voice lifted in song. It was an old song and not like the one she'd sung when Charin had died. Charin had died of natural causes. An event unusual since many died because of the Wraith or other dangers.
Silence greeted her when she finished. It lasted briefly as her people began to talk and share stories of those fallen. Teyla was embraced many times, her forehead touching so many of those who still lived.
When the ceremony concluded, she returned to sickbay to retrieve her son. She held his small body against her, thankful to have some part of Kanaan left.
"Are you alright?" Dr. Keller asked. She stood in the door of the makeshift nursery.
"No. It will take time."
Jennifer walked over and touched her arm. "It's okay to grieve."
"I miss him."
"I'm so sorry."
"As am I."
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Until it happened, civil war among the Cylons themselves would have been unthinkable. Natalie realized the danger too late and now their base ship was wounded, drifting and in peril of another attack.
They still had some power and a few systems still worked, but limbs had been amputated and all she could do was hope the debris around them would keep them protected, at least for awhile.
So the sudden appearance of an unfamiliar ship shook her, and piqued her curiosity. Natalie plunged her hand into the gooey reader and waited to see what they hybrid made of it.
"Tiny, tiny, hold together. Repairs initiating on upper decks. Cutting off hydraulic systems in sub levels eleven through nineteen. Human thoughts of mission to find a new home. Distress signal intercepted from failing fighter. Ten fighters disabled and need repair. Tricked them all. Sub light engines back on line. Lightspeed still down. Units dispersed to main engines."
Natalie with drew her hand. There was too much going on to get a clear sense of what the vessel could be and if it posed a new danger to them all.
"Trouble?" a three asked her.
She had no idea how to answer since the hybrid couldn't tell her. "I don't know."
