Five scenes from an abandoned AU
These are five (basic sketches of) scenes from an AU I was playing around with that I'm never never going to finish, but I'm kind of in love with anyway.
The basic premise was that John didn't go to Atlantis and got suckered into joining the SGC because O'Neill maybe kind of felt for him. Years later when the war with the Ori starts up and the SGC demands that the expedition comes home, but they refuse because they feel they have a responsibility to the people of the Pegasus Galaxy (and also, Atlantis is their home now) and declare themselves to be an independent colony. (And you can probably guess why I'm never going to finish it just by hearing that, eh?)
And then Stuff happened.
After Antarctica, it takes John a while to get used to America again, and he never really gets the hang of working out of Cheyenne with the SGC even though he's been there going on three years now. He expected to get kicked to the curb after refusing the Atlantis mission, but O'Neill just gave him this thoughtful look and, really, John should have been embarrassed at how easy he was, introduced him to the F-302.
After that things are kind of blur and he finds himself assigned to a gate team before he knows what hit him. Ten months later they run into a group of very unhappy natives on some godforsaken wasteland of a planet and he comes back through the gate covered in blood, the only survivor.
Five months after that he's leading a team, something he didn't really want but they were running a little low on officers and John has the necessary field experience, so he gets the job.
Not too long after that things turn ugly, really ugly, in the war with Ori and he finds himself in the briefing room with Colonel Carter and General Landry and no idea what the hell they want from him.
"Your team will be with Colonel Carter aboard the Odyssey for this one, Major Sheppard."
John just stares at Landry, convinced they've got the wrong man. "Sir?"
Landry sighs and gives Carter a look, and John realizes this...whatever the hell it is, is Carter's doing.
"Atlantis." Carter says, and John doesn't understand at first, but then it's been a long time since Antarctica and the alien squid-thing and he has a very, very bad feeling about this.
"Didn't they - " John begins, and stops dead at the looks he gets for that. "Right. When do we leave?"
Carter smiles grimly. "Yesterday."
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John's been at the SGC long enough to know that SG-1 always get what they want.
Always.
He also knows that you don't stay assigned to the Stargate Program if you aren't good at what you do, and contrary to all the evidence that says otherwise, they think he's good. Good enough to be there in the first place. Good enough to stay. Good enough to be assigned to a team heading to the Pegasus Galaxy to retrieve an expedition that wants nothing to do with Earth.
"So why are we going again?" John asks, eyebrows raised as Colonel Carter gives him a look.
John and his team are seated at the briefing room table while Carter lays out their mission objectives and John still has no idea why they're going. He gets that the SGC is getting desperate, he gets that Atlantis might be the key to defeating the Ori, but he doesn't get what they expect to gain by storming in making demands.
"We can't just leave them there." She says. "The Wraith are - "
"Didn't they blow up a few of those Wraith motherships?" Williams pipes up, eyes shiny and full of awe. "I mean, those things are supposed to be huge, right? Must have taken some crazy kind of firepower to - "
Carter glares and the kid shuts up, but the shininess never really leaves his eyes.
"Okay," John says. "The Wraith are a threat, but like Williams over there said, it sounds like Atlantis can handle them."
Carter stares at him for a long, long moment, and the room goes dead quiet. John tries not to let the fact that he's facing off against a member of SG-1 get to him, even though he's heard stories about those who have.
"The war against the Ori isn't going well, as you all know." Carter says finally. "We can't afford to split Earth's resources between the SGC and Atlantis and quite frankly, we're going to need whatever advantages they've managed to discover."
John's smile goes a little sharp. "You're planning on relocating them and taking all their toys."
Carter doesn't confirm or deny his accusation, which is really all the answer he needs.
"There's just one problem." Carter's frowning, and John gets that bad feeling again. "They don't want to come back."
John just kind of stares at her. "Okay."
Carter makes a face, and John raises his eyebrows, waiting for the clarification he knows is coming. "They're...committed."
"Or should be." Henderson mutters, not quite as sotto voce as he obviously thought because Carter shoots him a narrow-eyed glare.
"That doesn't matter." The look on Carter's face clears, and there's something about her posture, her bearing, that tells John she's certain they're doing the Right Thing. "We're going to convince them they need to come home."
This time he just shrugs because he can guess how well that's going to go over. "Okay."
Carter gives him an unreadable look, except for the part where he can see she's not sure what the hell he's still doing at the SGC with that sort of attitude, but then they get the okay and they're headed out to the gateroom for the Odyssey to beam them up.
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Carter commandeers the pilot briefing room on the Odyssey and after handing them folders with 'Top Secret' and 'Confidential' and 'Eyes Only' stamped all over them explains what they're really going to Pegasus for.
Atlantis it seems cut ties with Earth almost a month ago when the SGC tried to recall them almost a month ago, citing the war with the Ori as a far more pressing matter regarding Earth's safety. Atlantis, and John understands where they're coming from, refused based on the grounds that they'd established trust with several planetary governments and would not abandon their hard won allies.
"Oh, hey, I remember that." Williams says, all bright-eyed and eager and so, so full of energy that it kind of makes John sick. "Didn't they - "
This time Carter and John give him the look and he shuts up with admirable speed.
"We don't have the time or resources available to ferry the entire expedition on this trip." Carter starts, gaze sweeping the room. "We're going to retrieve a few key personnel in possession of information that may prove vital to Earth's defense."
"Just why is this McKay guy so important?" Henderson asks, looking up from the folder in front of him, eyes narrowed.
McKay is the one they're really after, John knows. Zelenka and the others would be a nice little bonus, but McKay's the head of the science team. He's supposedly just as brilliant as Carter, and they need his brainpower if they hope to stand a chance against the Ori.
Carter makes a face and John's amused by the realization that there's obviously no love lost between the two.
"McKay may be a pain in the ass, but he's smart."
John's smart too. Smart enough to add two and two and he doesn't like what he's coming up with. "You really think he's going to help you after we kidnap him?" he doesn't feel any sort of guilt or disloyalty for his choice of words because he's pretty damn sure this isn't the reason the SGC was put together for. "If what you've told us is true, McKay could be more trouble than he's worth. And if Atlantis has managed to survive on their own out here this long? They've got to have resources of their own to call on. Allies, technology - the information in these reports barely tells us anything about the situation out there."
"We're not looking to start a war, Sheppard." Carter points out. "We're bringing our people home. You of all people should be able to appreciate that."
Dead silence fills the room, and John's team share uneasy looks because they know.
They might not know the details, but they know he's the black sheep of the SGC. The guy that failed at what the SGC does best.
"It's a mistake."
Carter gives him another one of her looks, but he sees the faint hint of agreement in her eyes, and John knows that she understands the consequences and is doing what she thinks is right anyway. He could admire her for that, if he didn't hate her for it just as much.
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Carter asks him to hang back after the others are dismissed, and he has the feeling he's about to get one hell of a dressing down from her for his behavior in the briefing.
He's a little surprised when she just looks at him, corners of her mouth pulled up in a rueful smile. "Anything said in here is strictly off the record." She says, and John knows that she's not happy with the mission either.
"We don't have any other choice." She looks uncomfortable, like she knows the words coming out of her mouth are utter bullshit. "Earth doesn't stand a chance against the Ori, and we can't - "
"It's still a mistake." John's angry, because he was led to believe the SGC was better than this. That SG-1 was better than this. "You can't barge in and start making demands and expect them to go along with it. You sure as hell can't go around kidnapping their people and not expect them to retaliate!"
Carter sighs, and John knows there's no changing anything now. They're on their way, committed to the mission, and it's his job, his duty to see that he does what he has to in order to see it through.
"Why isn't your team here?"
Carter's lips tighten in annoyance, and John's not sure if it's directed at him or the universe in general. "They have missions of their own."
She doesn't say anything more, and John doesn't press his luck.
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While Atlantis is hardly delighted to see them, they're greeted civilly and for the first time they find out how the expedition managed to defeat the Wraith motherships.
"She's the Hippaforalkus, named after an Ancient general." McKay says, smiling proudly at the image on the screen.
John's a little in love with her, although he's really not all that fond of the name. She was waiting in orbit when they came out of hyperspace, and while John would have though something like that should have been hulking menace, she really wasn't. Oh, there was plenty of menace to be had, once they'd realized she had her weapons trained on Odyssey but not so much with the hulking, really.
"Couldn't you have renamed her?" John finds himself asking, still staring at the ship as it orbits the planet. "I mean - "
"No." McKay's answer is short and clipped, and when John turns his head to look at him, he has an unreadable look on his face. "If it's one thing we've learned out here Major, it's that sometimes it's best to leave things alone."
John raises an eyebrow at that, but McKay doesn't rise to the bait. Instead he turns to Carter.
"Elizabeth's busy speaking with representatives, so she asked me to give you a tour of the city."
John doesn't know why, but he's getting a bad feeling about the whole setup. He kind of wishes Carter had pushed the issue, but Atlantis was perfectly clear in their terms, and only two SGC personnel were allowed in the city at a time.
Now they're finding out that aside from McKay the entire senior staff is unavailable. Lorne's on the mainland overseeing training exercises, Beckett's off-world on a mission of mercy, and Weir's in some kind of talks.
"We'd like that, Rodney." Carter's looking a little twitchy too, and John's relieved to see it isn't just him.
If McKay notices, he doesn't say anything as he guides them around the city, and John's getting the feeling that McKay, that everyone in the expedition, considers Atlantis more than just home. It's more than that to them, and he feels a little sick inside when they reach a quiet section of the city and Carter gives the order.
He hates the look McKay gets when John has him at gunpoint, bitter resignation, and that's when John knows, knows, that the expedition was expecting something like this.
He's positive when McKay reaches up to tap his radio and the walls on either side slide back to reveal armed marines, P-90's aimed at them.
McKay gives him a faint smile as the marines herd them towards the nearest transporter. "It's too bad you didn't come with us at the beginning." McKay tells him. "You probably would have liked it here."
The basic premise was that John didn't go to Atlantis and got suckered into joining the SGC because O'Neill maybe kind of felt for him. Years later when the war with the Ori starts up and the SGC demands that the expedition comes home, but they refuse because they feel they have a responsibility to the people of the Pegasus Galaxy (and also, Atlantis is their home now) and declare themselves to be an independent colony. (And you can probably guess why I'm never going to finish it just by hearing that, eh?)
And then Stuff happened.
After Antarctica, it takes John a while to get used to America again, and he never really gets the hang of working out of Cheyenne with the SGC even though he's been there going on three years now. He expected to get kicked to the curb after refusing the Atlantis mission, but O'Neill just gave him this thoughtful look and, really, John should have been embarrassed at how easy he was, introduced him to the F-302.
After that things are kind of blur and he finds himself assigned to a gate team before he knows what hit him. Ten months later they run into a group of very unhappy natives on some godforsaken wasteland of a planet and he comes back through the gate covered in blood, the only survivor.
Five months after that he's leading a team, something he didn't really want but they were running a little low on officers and John has the necessary field experience, so he gets the job.
Not too long after that things turn ugly, really ugly, in the war with Ori and he finds himself in the briefing room with Colonel Carter and General Landry and no idea what the hell they want from him.
"Your team will be with Colonel Carter aboard the Odyssey for this one, Major Sheppard."
John just stares at Landry, convinced they've got the wrong man. "Sir?"
Landry sighs and gives Carter a look, and John realizes this...whatever the hell it is, is Carter's doing.
"Atlantis." Carter says, and John doesn't understand at first, but then it's been a long time since Antarctica and the alien squid-thing and he has a very, very bad feeling about this.
"Didn't they - " John begins, and stops dead at the looks he gets for that. "Right. When do we leave?"
Carter smiles grimly. "Yesterday."
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John's been at the SGC long enough to know that SG-1 always get what they want.
Always.
He also knows that you don't stay assigned to the Stargate Program if you aren't good at what you do, and contrary to all the evidence that says otherwise, they think he's good. Good enough to be there in the first place. Good enough to stay. Good enough to be assigned to a team heading to the Pegasus Galaxy to retrieve an expedition that wants nothing to do with Earth.
"So why are we going again?" John asks, eyebrows raised as Colonel Carter gives him a look.
John and his team are seated at the briefing room table while Carter lays out their mission objectives and John still has no idea why they're going. He gets that the SGC is getting desperate, he gets that Atlantis might be the key to defeating the Ori, but he doesn't get what they expect to gain by storming in making demands.
"We can't just leave them there." She says. "The Wraith are - "
"Didn't they blow up a few of those Wraith motherships?" Williams pipes up, eyes shiny and full of awe. "I mean, those things are supposed to be huge, right? Must have taken some crazy kind of firepower to - "
Carter glares and the kid shuts up, but the shininess never really leaves his eyes.
"Okay," John says. "The Wraith are a threat, but like Williams over there said, it sounds like Atlantis can handle them."
Carter stares at him for a long, long moment, and the room goes dead quiet. John tries not to let the fact that he's facing off against a member of SG-1 get to him, even though he's heard stories about those who have.
"The war against the Ori isn't going well, as you all know." Carter says finally. "We can't afford to split Earth's resources between the SGC and Atlantis and quite frankly, we're going to need whatever advantages they've managed to discover."
John's smile goes a little sharp. "You're planning on relocating them and taking all their toys."
Carter doesn't confirm or deny his accusation, which is really all the answer he needs.
"There's just one problem." Carter's frowning, and John gets that bad feeling again. "They don't want to come back."
John just kind of stares at her. "Okay."
Carter makes a face, and John raises his eyebrows, waiting for the clarification he knows is coming. "They're...committed."
"Or should be." Henderson mutters, not quite as sotto voce as he obviously thought because Carter shoots him a narrow-eyed glare.
"That doesn't matter." The look on Carter's face clears, and there's something about her posture, her bearing, that tells John she's certain they're doing the Right Thing. "We're going to convince them they need to come home."
This time he just shrugs because he can guess how well that's going to go over. "Okay."
Carter gives him an unreadable look, except for the part where he can see she's not sure what the hell he's still doing at the SGC with that sort of attitude, but then they get the okay and they're headed out to the gateroom for the Odyssey to beam them up.
========
========
Carter commandeers the pilot briefing room on the Odyssey and after handing them folders with 'Top Secret' and 'Confidential' and 'Eyes Only' stamped all over them explains what they're really going to Pegasus for.
Atlantis it seems cut ties with Earth almost a month ago when the SGC tried to recall them almost a month ago, citing the war with the Ori as a far more pressing matter regarding Earth's safety. Atlantis, and John understands where they're coming from, refused based on the grounds that they'd established trust with several planetary governments and would not abandon their hard won allies.
"Oh, hey, I remember that." Williams says, all bright-eyed and eager and so, so full of energy that it kind of makes John sick. "Didn't they - "
This time Carter and John give him the look and he shuts up with admirable speed.
"We don't have the time or resources available to ferry the entire expedition on this trip." Carter starts, gaze sweeping the room. "We're going to retrieve a few key personnel in possession of information that may prove vital to Earth's defense."
"Just why is this McKay guy so important?" Henderson asks, looking up from the folder in front of him, eyes narrowed.
McKay is the one they're really after, John knows. Zelenka and the others would be a nice little bonus, but McKay's the head of the science team. He's supposedly just as brilliant as Carter, and they need his brainpower if they hope to stand a chance against the Ori.
Carter makes a face and John's amused by the realization that there's obviously no love lost between the two.
"McKay may be a pain in the ass, but he's smart."
John's smart too. Smart enough to add two and two and he doesn't like what he's coming up with. "You really think he's going to help you after we kidnap him?" he doesn't feel any sort of guilt or disloyalty for his choice of words because he's pretty damn sure this isn't the reason the SGC was put together for. "If what you've told us is true, McKay could be more trouble than he's worth. And if Atlantis has managed to survive on their own out here this long? They've got to have resources of their own to call on. Allies, technology - the information in these reports barely tells us anything about the situation out there."
"We're not looking to start a war, Sheppard." Carter points out. "We're bringing our people home. You of all people should be able to appreciate that."
Dead silence fills the room, and John's team share uneasy looks because they know.
They might not know the details, but they know he's the black sheep of the SGC. The guy that failed at what the SGC does best.
"It's a mistake."
Carter gives him another one of her looks, but he sees the faint hint of agreement in her eyes, and John knows that she understands the consequences and is doing what she thinks is right anyway. He could admire her for that, if he didn't hate her for it just as much.
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Carter asks him to hang back after the others are dismissed, and he has the feeling he's about to get one hell of a dressing down from her for his behavior in the briefing.
He's a little surprised when she just looks at him, corners of her mouth pulled up in a rueful smile. "Anything said in here is strictly off the record." She says, and John knows that she's not happy with the mission either.
"We don't have any other choice." She looks uncomfortable, like she knows the words coming out of her mouth are utter bullshit. "Earth doesn't stand a chance against the Ori, and we can't - "
"It's still a mistake." John's angry, because he was led to believe the SGC was better than this. That SG-1 was better than this. "You can't barge in and start making demands and expect them to go along with it. You sure as hell can't go around kidnapping their people and not expect them to retaliate!"
Carter sighs, and John knows there's no changing anything now. They're on their way, committed to the mission, and it's his job, his duty to see that he does what he has to in order to see it through.
"Why isn't your team here?"
Carter's lips tighten in annoyance, and John's not sure if it's directed at him or the universe in general. "They have missions of their own."
She doesn't say anything more, and John doesn't press his luck.
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While Atlantis is hardly delighted to see them, they're greeted civilly and for the first time they find out how the expedition managed to defeat the Wraith motherships.
"She's the Hippaforalkus, named after an Ancient general." McKay says, smiling proudly at the image on the screen.
John's a little in love with her, although he's really not all that fond of the name. She was waiting in orbit when they came out of hyperspace, and while John would have though something like that should have been hulking menace, she really wasn't. Oh, there was plenty of menace to be had, once they'd realized she had her weapons trained on Odyssey but not so much with the hulking, really.
"Couldn't you have renamed her?" John finds himself asking, still staring at the ship as it orbits the planet. "I mean - "
"No." McKay's answer is short and clipped, and when John turns his head to look at him, he has an unreadable look on his face. "If it's one thing we've learned out here Major, it's that sometimes it's best to leave things alone."
John raises an eyebrow at that, but McKay doesn't rise to the bait. Instead he turns to Carter.
"Elizabeth's busy speaking with representatives, so she asked me to give you a tour of the city."
John doesn't know why, but he's getting a bad feeling about the whole setup. He kind of wishes Carter had pushed the issue, but Atlantis was perfectly clear in their terms, and only two SGC personnel were allowed in the city at a time.
Now they're finding out that aside from McKay the entire senior staff is unavailable. Lorne's on the mainland overseeing training exercises, Beckett's off-world on a mission of mercy, and Weir's in some kind of talks.
"We'd like that, Rodney." Carter's looking a little twitchy too, and John's relieved to see it isn't just him.
If McKay notices, he doesn't say anything as he guides them around the city, and John's getting the feeling that McKay, that everyone in the expedition, considers Atlantis more than just home. It's more than that to them, and he feels a little sick inside when they reach a quiet section of the city and Carter gives the order.
He hates the look McKay gets when John has him at gunpoint, bitter resignation, and that's when John knows, knows, that the expedition was expecting something like this.
He's positive when McKay reaches up to tap his radio and the walls on either side slide back to reveal armed marines, P-90's aimed at them.
McKay gives him a faint smile as the marines herd them towards the nearest transporter. "It's too bad you didn't come with us at the beginning." McKay tells him. "You probably would have liked it here."