Fic: Joint Fire Support Team: Hang On (Generation Kill/SGA) (5/6)
Title: Hang On
Fandom: Generation Kill/Stargate
Rating: T (language warning, guys. No, seriously.)
Genres: mostly gen
Summary: Eh, so Wishing She Was Somewhere Else Instead wasn't the last chapter, after all. Basically, this chapter and the next are ancient_leah's fault because she was all "Wait, this is where it ends?" after Wishing She Was and since I owe a couple really good stories to her and our bouncing back and forth plot bunnies until they're so sick they can't even move anymore I thought "What the hell? Let's give the girl a story. Or maybe two." and here they are. Or rather, the first. Have... fun?
A/N: It's been three months since Laura Cadman came clear to her CO and almost three since she left for Earth on the Daedalus. Let's see how Brad Colbert among other people welcomes her back.
( Drowning on Dry Land )
( Better Treat Her Right )
( Break the Door Down )
( Wishing She Was Somewhere Else Instead )
Hang On
“When your day is long and the night
The night is yours alone
When you're sure you've had enough of this life, well hang on
Don't let yourself go
Everybody cries and everybody hurts sometimes.”
REM, “Everybody Hurts”
Something’s up. Something’s messed up and fishy and pretty much fucked up. From the way Lorne gestures and rubs his hand over his face and from Sheppard’s even more than usually spiky hair, it looks like something really went FUBAR. Somehow he wishes they’d dim the office’s glass walls because what’s going on looks so… personal.
“It’s the Daedalus, Sergeant.” Oh good God, fucking alien sneaking up on him. Again. And what’s the Daedalus? “Colonel Sheppard and Major Lorne’s… issue. As you might have noticed that the Daedalus is overdue.”
That, yes. Teyla Emmagan is right, the ship should have been here two hours ago. He just hadn’t thought it to be alarming, is all. “Of course I did, ma’am. Just thought it’s some malfunction or other. Wouldn’t be the first time.”
The look on Emmagan’s face tells him she wonders whether he somehow was replaced by an alternative version of himself. What is this city’s crew’s issue with how much he talks or doesn’t? He gives her credit for it being such a short and nearly unnoticeable look. Best damn poker face in the entire city, that one. “I agree, Sergeant.” But if it were, Sheppard and Lorne wouldn’t look so… worried.
On the other side of the office’s glass walls, Sheppard and Lorne have resorted to sitting down, trying to look relaxing, probably for the control room’s benefit and it looks very much like the officer bullshit he hadn’t ever seen from them before. Something… “Laura Cadman is onboard the Daedalus.”
His first impulse is to tell her that he knows that and wonders what the remark was all about when he remembers that Cadman and Emmagan seem to share a friendship of some sorts. Which is probably why there was a barely noticeable anxious undertone to her voice. Amazing. It’s not the first time he thinks she could maybe sometimes give him a lesson in frosty.
There’s another thing. His new team is onboard that ship and Cadman’s supposed to be his new team leader as soon as she’s back, officially in the Daedalus’ chain of command then. It was a trick, to ensure there wouldn’t be any repercussions for… oh, for Heaven’s sake he’s not a fucking Southern belle in a stupid ballroom. It was a trick to make it possible for her and Lorne to sleep with each other and not withstanding what he thinks about this whole fraternization thing, he’s got to give them that it’s a pretty neat fucking little trick if nothing else.
He makes a face, looking at Lorne again listening to Sheppard ranting with big gestures, while Lorne’s sunken in his chair, one leg across the other and he isn’t really sure if he actually hears what Sheppard is telling him. “Explains a couple things, ma’am.”
Emmagan just nods sagely and she’s probably the first and only person he ever encountered who can pull it off without it looking tacky. “So it does.” Then there’s just the back hum of the control room, strangely… normal, considering their supply ship is overdue and the officers in charge are looking they’re about to having a mental breakdown. They… “John made people believe that he is in a scheduling meeting with Major Lorne. He did not want to raise any suspicions.”
So… that explains why everyone is so fucking calm here. And why Sheppard and Lorne don’t bother with the shutters drawn. Actually, their idea was kind of genius. As long as people can see them, they won’t suspect something’s wrong. Suddenly… everything makes a whole lotta fucking sense. Sheppard and Lorne didn’t suddenly mutate into the kind of idiots he’d had to deal with in Iraq and a couple other deployments that went FUBAR. They’re still their freakishly un-Air Force while being as Air Force as they can selves. Except, “Excuse my asking, ma’am but… is there any particular reason Colonel Sheppard and Major Lorne want to keep this whole thing secret?”
Emmagan… just smiles at him, enigmatic and just a little bit mocking. Yeah. Right. Fell right into her well-marked little trap. At least he’s able to admit that it had nothing to do with the fact that she’s female or that she’s fucking hot and female. He’s not ready to admit that it has everything to do with him starting to get worried either, though.
It’s still a little embarrassing when he can see her deciding to go easy on the sergeant and benevolently whisper, “The Daedalus is on a… classified mission right now and it seems as if they encountered… hostiles.” Uh-huh. Well, that doesn’t sound… “All I know is, they’re currently fighting intruders and…” Wait, so that’s her secret. She’s listening in on the CO and his XO, which is why she’s sometimes cocking her head to the side, very, very lightly. “And that is everything I can tell you at the moment, Sergeant. I am sorry.”
The funny thing is: it’s a lot more than she should have told him and she knows it. “No need to be, ma’am. Thank you for your efforts.” She inclines her head to him, hopefully registering that he won’t mess this up and alert the entire control room or something. All he wants is to be kept in the loop because this is about his team, even when he knows only one of the three new members. And if there’s one thing the Iceman doesn’t do, it’s letting his team down.
So that’s what he does. He stays in the control room, in the back, unobtrusively, right next to Teyla Emmagan and if he’d needed any more encouragement, it would have been Lorne’s look, a few minutes after thanking Emmagan, directed at him, and a small nod… acknowledging his presence and it probably just earned him points with his boss that he’s interested Cadman’s in whereabouts himself.
In the end, it takes another two hours of - figuratively because this is Pegasus and thinks like that are possible to happen literally - merging himself with the wall in his back and listening to Emmagan whispering new developments and watching both Lorne and Sheppard live through every one of them as if they were right there fighting of alien intruders until there’s suddenly a “It’s the Daedalus, sir. They’re hailing us. And… they said they’re too damaged to land and that they need medical assistance. ASAP,” from a flustered Airman at the controls.
Suddenly, there’s a rush of activity and he’s glad about that because in a flurry it’s even easier for him to mask relief by just nodding at Emmagan and stepping forward to watch the enfolding nearly scary efficiency of the Atlantis staff. Ever after over a year, it still astounds him how fast Keller and her trauma teams react and how effortlessly Sheppard and Lorne direct the control room staff, the influx of heavily wounded personnel being beamed down with what looks like engineering and medical staff being beamed back up until it starts to slow down, with the walking wounded. And Laura Cadman, now a Captain as he heard it through the grapevine.
There’s a small intake of breath from Emmagan next to him and he nearly did so himself. She looks… banged up would be an understatement. Seriously fucked over, more like. Without hesitation, he steps up to greet her. “Welcome back, ma’am.”
She just nods, and up close he can see weariness and exhaustion in her face beneath a coating of blood and grime. That, and the iron will to remain upright. Good. He would have hated for her to faint right in front of him… and Major Lorne whom she seems to be pointedly ignoring. That’s… weird. “Ma’am…”
He gets interrupted by another beam and suddenly, there are two women standing next to Cadman, one on either side. The right one is looking equally roughed up as Cadman, her uniform marking her down as another Marine and featuring a big gaping burn hole in her right arm sleeve. The skin beneath it is furiously red and he’s pretty sure he also saw blisters. That just can’t be good. The woman on her left side looks like a civilian and slightly less messed up but equally tired.
Cadman raises her hand to wipe blood that’s trickling down from a cut in her right eyebrow from her eye. “Sergeant Colbert, meet your new team mates, Sergeant Dusty Mehra, USMC” she gestures to her right and the Marine - Sergeant - nods at him with a… defiant gleam in her eyes, “and Dr. Alison Porter, physicist” she gestures to her right and the doctor nods at him and oddly enough he realizes that there’s an empty Beretta holster around her right thigh. That’s… interesting. “Dusty, Alison, this is Sergeant Brad Colbert, USMC. He’ll be completing the team as soon as we… well, you know.”
As he gazes at the trio in front of him he realizes that… all his new team members are female. He’ll be going on missions with women. And a civilian. Ray would have a field day… a field year if he knew. So he sure as hell is gonna take his time with telling Ray that.
Thankfully, the task at hand is taken out of his when Cadman spares him the awkwardness of having to decide if this is a good moment to offer two fellow Marines his assistance or not in getting their gear to their rooms - or their asses to the fucking infirmary - or not when she says, “Sergeant… I think Dr. Porter could use a hand in getting her equipment to her quarters.”
He nods, “Yes, ma’am,” walking over to the duffle next to the doc and grabbing it, not allowing her to go for the usual “No, it’s okay, I can do that myself and I dare you to disagree, you relict from the Stone Ages” he so often gets from female Atlantis personnel. After making sure everyone has what she needs with her, he sets off for the room Cadman named her as the doc’s quarters, the rest of the team in tow.
When he passes Emmagan on his way out of the control room, he catches her giving him an appreciative look and then… sharing a little smile with Cadman. What makes him stop for a moment is that he realizes Lorne is doing his best to ignore Cadman as well. But then again… that’s none of his fucking business and nothing he needs to worry about unless it has influences on Cadman’s performance as his team leader.
Right now, her performance - and that of the rest of his team mates - is much more in danger to fail from sheer exhaustion and pain so he makes a mental note to steer them away from Dr. Porter’s quarters to the infirmary. Being checked over can’t hurt and he’ll take their tough Marine bullshit over having been the one responsible for them failing to get combat ready again any day. He always takes care of his team and this one won’t be an exception. As easy as that.
~*~
TBC in From the Heart.
Fandom: Generation Kill/Stargate
Rating: T (language warning, guys. No, seriously.)
Genres: mostly gen
Summary: Eh, so Wishing She Was Somewhere Else Instead wasn't the last chapter, after all. Basically, this chapter and the next are ancient_leah's fault because she was all "Wait, this is where it ends?" after Wishing She Was and since I owe a couple really good stories to her and our bouncing back and forth plot bunnies until they're so sick they can't even move anymore I thought "What the hell? Let's give the girl a story. Or maybe two." and here they are. Or rather, the first. Have... fun?
A/N: It's been three months since Laura Cadman came clear to her CO and almost three since she left for Earth on the Daedalus. Let's see how Brad Colbert among other people welcomes her back.
( Drowning on Dry Land )
( Better Treat Her Right )
( Break the Door Down )
( Wishing She Was Somewhere Else Instead )
Hang On
“When your day is long and the night
The night is yours alone
When you're sure you've had enough of this life, well hang on
Don't let yourself go
Everybody cries and everybody hurts sometimes.”
REM, “Everybody Hurts”
Something’s up. Something’s messed up and fishy and pretty much fucked up. From the way Lorne gestures and rubs his hand over his face and from Sheppard’s even more than usually spiky hair, it looks like something really went FUBAR. Somehow he wishes they’d dim the office’s glass walls because what’s going on looks so… personal.
“It’s the Daedalus, Sergeant.” Oh good God, fucking alien sneaking up on him. Again. And what’s the Daedalus? “Colonel Sheppard and Major Lorne’s… issue. As you might have noticed that the Daedalus is overdue.”
That, yes. Teyla Emmagan is right, the ship should have been here two hours ago. He just hadn’t thought it to be alarming, is all. “Of course I did, ma’am. Just thought it’s some malfunction or other. Wouldn’t be the first time.”
The look on Emmagan’s face tells him she wonders whether he somehow was replaced by an alternative version of himself. What is this city’s crew’s issue with how much he talks or doesn’t? He gives her credit for it being such a short and nearly unnoticeable look. Best damn poker face in the entire city, that one. “I agree, Sergeant.” But if it were, Sheppard and Lorne wouldn’t look so… worried.
On the other side of the office’s glass walls, Sheppard and Lorne have resorted to sitting down, trying to look relaxing, probably for the control room’s benefit and it looks very much like the officer bullshit he hadn’t ever seen from them before. Something… “Laura Cadman is onboard the Daedalus.”
His first impulse is to tell her that he knows that and wonders what the remark was all about when he remembers that Cadman and Emmagan seem to share a friendship of some sorts. Which is probably why there was a barely noticeable anxious undertone to her voice. Amazing. It’s not the first time he thinks she could maybe sometimes give him a lesson in frosty.
There’s another thing. His new team is onboard that ship and Cadman’s supposed to be his new team leader as soon as she’s back, officially in the Daedalus’ chain of command then. It was a trick, to ensure there wouldn’t be any repercussions for… oh, for Heaven’s sake he’s not a fucking Southern belle in a stupid ballroom. It was a trick to make it possible for her and Lorne to sleep with each other and not withstanding what he thinks about this whole fraternization thing, he’s got to give them that it’s a pretty neat fucking little trick if nothing else.
He makes a face, looking at Lorne again listening to Sheppard ranting with big gestures, while Lorne’s sunken in his chair, one leg across the other and he isn’t really sure if he actually hears what Sheppard is telling him. “Explains a couple things, ma’am.”
Emmagan just nods sagely and she’s probably the first and only person he ever encountered who can pull it off without it looking tacky. “So it does.” Then there’s just the back hum of the control room, strangely… normal, considering their supply ship is overdue and the officers in charge are looking they’re about to having a mental breakdown. They… “John made people believe that he is in a scheduling meeting with Major Lorne. He did not want to raise any suspicions.”
So… that explains why everyone is so fucking calm here. And why Sheppard and Lorne don’t bother with the shutters drawn. Actually, their idea was kind of genius. As long as people can see them, they won’t suspect something’s wrong. Suddenly… everything makes a whole lotta fucking sense. Sheppard and Lorne didn’t suddenly mutate into the kind of idiots he’d had to deal with in Iraq and a couple other deployments that went FUBAR. They’re still their freakishly un-Air Force while being as Air Force as they can selves. Except, “Excuse my asking, ma’am but… is there any particular reason Colonel Sheppard and Major Lorne want to keep this whole thing secret?”
Emmagan… just smiles at him, enigmatic and just a little bit mocking. Yeah. Right. Fell right into her well-marked little trap. At least he’s able to admit that it had nothing to do with the fact that she’s female or that she’s fucking hot and female. He’s not ready to admit that it has everything to do with him starting to get worried either, though.
It’s still a little embarrassing when he can see her deciding to go easy on the sergeant and benevolently whisper, “The Daedalus is on a… classified mission right now and it seems as if they encountered… hostiles.” Uh-huh. Well, that doesn’t sound… “All I know is, they’re currently fighting intruders and…” Wait, so that’s her secret. She’s listening in on the CO and his XO, which is why she’s sometimes cocking her head to the side, very, very lightly. “And that is everything I can tell you at the moment, Sergeant. I am sorry.”
The funny thing is: it’s a lot more than she should have told him and she knows it. “No need to be, ma’am. Thank you for your efforts.” She inclines her head to him, hopefully registering that he won’t mess this up and alert the entire control room or something. All he wants is to be kept in the loop because this is about his team, even when he knows only one of the three new members. And if there’s one thing the Iceman doesn’t do, it’s letting his team down.
So that’s what he does. He stays in the control room, in the back, unobtrusively, right next to Teyla Emmagan and if he’d needed any more encouragement, it would have been Lorne’s look, a few minutes after thanking Emmagan, directed at him, and a small nod… acknowledging his presence and it probably just earned him points with his boss that he’s interested Cadman’s in whereabouts himself.
In the end, it takes another two hours of - figuratively because this is Pegasus and thinks like that are possible to happen literally - merging himself with the wall in his back and listening to Emmagan whispering new developments and watching both Lorne and Sheppard live through every one of them as if they were right there fighting of alien intruders until there’s suddenly a “It’s the Daedalus, sir. They’re hailing us. And… they said they’re too damaged to land and that they need medical assistance. ASAP,” from a flustered Airman at the controls.
Suddenly, there’s a rush of activity and he’s glad about that because in a flurry it’s even easier for him to mask relief by just nodding at Emmagan and stepping forward to watch the enfolding nearly scary efficiency of the Atlantis staff. Ever after over a year, it still astounds him how fast Keller and her trauma teams react and how effortlessly Sheppard and Lorne direct the control room staff, the influx of heavily wounded personnel being beamed down with what looks like engineering and medical staff being beamed back up until it starts to slow down, with the walking wounded. And Laura Cadman, now a Captain as he heard it through the grapevine.
There’s a small intake of breath from Emmagan next to him and he nearly did so himself. She looks… banged up would be an understatement. Seriously fucked over, more like. Without hesitation, he steps up to greet her. “Welcome back, ma’am.”
She just nods, and up close he can see weariness and exhaustion in her face beneath a coating of blood and grime. That, and the iron will to remain upright. Good. He would have hated for her to faint right in front of him… and Major Lorne whom she seems to be pointedly ignoring. That’s… weird. “Ma’am…”
He gets interrupted by another beam and suddenly, there are two women standing next to Cadman, one on either side. The right one is looking equally roughed up as Cadman, her uniform marking her down as another Marine and featuring a big gaping burn hole in her right arm sleeve. The skin beneath it is furiously red and he’s pretty sure he also saw blisters. That just can’t be good. The woman on her left side looks like a civilian and slightly less messed up but equally tired.
Cadman raises her hand to wipe blood that’s trickling down from a cut in her right eyebrow from her eye. “Sergeant Colbert, meet your new team mates, Sergeant Dusty Mehra, USMC” she gestures to her right and the Marine - Sergeant - nods at him with a… defiant gleam in her eyes, “and Dr. Alison Porter, physicist” she gestures to her right and the doctor nods at him and oddly enough he realizes that there’s an empty Beretta holster around her right thigh. That’s… interesting. “Dusty, Alison, this is Sergeant Brad Colbert, USMC. He’ll be completing the team as soon as we… well, you know.”
As he gazes at the trio in front of him he realizes that… all his new team members are female. He’ll be going on missions with women. And a civilian. Ray would have a field day… a field year if he knew. So he sure as hell is gonna take his time with telling Ray that.
Thankfully, the task at hand is taken out of his when Cadman spares him the awkwardness of having to decide if this is a good moment to offer two fellow Marines his assistance or not in getting their gear to their rooms - or their asses to the fucking infirmary - or not when she says, “Sergeant… I think Dr. Porter could use a hand in getting her equipment to her quarters.”
He nods, “Yes, ma’am,” walking over to the duffle next to the doc and grabbing it, not allowing her to go for the usual “No, it’s okay, I can do that myself and I dare you to disagree, you relict from the Stone Ages” he so often gets from female Atlantis personnel. After making sure everyone has what she needs with her, he sets off for the room Cadman named her as the doc’s quarters, the rest of the team in tow.
When he passes Emmagan on his way out of the control room, he catches her giving him an appreciative look and then… sharing a little smile with Cadman. What makes him stop for a moment is that he realizes Lorne is doing his best to ignore Cadman as well. But then again… that’s none of his fucking business and nothing he needs to worry about unless it has influences on Cadman’s performance as his team leader.
Right now, her performance - and that of the rest of his team mates - is much more in danger to fail from sheer exhaustion and pain so he makes a mental note to steer them away from Dr. Porter’s quarters to the infirmary. Being checked over can’t hurt and he’ll take their tough Marine bullshit over having been the one responsible for them failing to get combat ready again any day. He always takes care of his team and this one won’t be an exception. As easy as that.
~*~
TBC in From the Heart.