Qui Habitat: Chapter 17
Qui Habitat: Chapter 17 (9300 words) | Book Two
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The prospect of full-fledged direct fighting with the Ori had always been there. First in an abstract way when the SGC had still looked to have control of the situation, then in a slightly less abstract way once it was clear that the SGC did not, and then coalescing into something almost concrete once Earth had been invaded. But even after Earth's submission at Robler Rock and then after Daedalus had limped into port and Atlantis had been fully cut off from the Milky Way, there'd still been something almost fantastical about it -- the Ori were probably coming, but they weren't here yet and maybe they weren't coming at all -- that hadn't been fully shaken off until after Gauhan had been taken over by priors. But the Ori didn't come in force after Gauhan. They came in single file, a prior here, a prior there, and six rumors for every actual sighting. There was plague and then the plague became something else that the Ori neither wanted nor could control and they lost possession of it, at least in John's mind. It became just another way Pegasus made life difficult, up there with the Wraith and aspired to by the Genii and Michael and other threats yet unknown.
He'd never relaxed; he'd never been allowed to. There'd been too much to do, too much to prepare, to ever slack off or reduce vigilance or stop believing with all of his heart and mind that the Ori were going to come and Atlantis was going to have to make the last stand and it was his job to best prepare them for that. But all of the waiting had taken a little bit of the edge off and, belatedly, he realized that's what had been making him feel uncomfortable in his own skin all day. He'd done all he could, asked of his men (and women) all that he could of them, and, intellectually, he knew that nobody had let him down. But the skirmish today was nonetheless a sharp reminder that that might not be enough and his restlessness had been a lousy attempt at avoiding that harsh fact.
overview | series cover page
The prospect of full-fledged direct fighting with the Ori had always been there. First in an abstract way when the SGC had still looked to have control of the situation, then in a slightly less abstract way once it was clear that the SGC did not, and then coalescing into something almost concrete once Earth had been invaded. But even after Earth's submission at Robler Rock and then after Daedalus had limped into port and Atlantis had been fully cut off from the Milky Way, there'd still been something almost fantastical about it -- the Ori were probably coming, but they weren't here yet and maybe they weren't coming at all -- that hadn't been fully shaken off until after Gauhan had been taken over by priors. But the Ori didn't come in force after Gauhan. They came in single file, a prior here, a prior there, and six rumors for every actual sighting. There was plague and then the plague became something else that the Ori neither wanted nor could control and they lost possession of it, at least in John's mind. It became just another way Pegasus made life difficult, up there with the Wraith and aspired to by the Genii and Michael and other threats yet unknown.
He'd never relaxed; he'd never been allowed to. There'd been too much to do, too much to prepare, to ever slack off or reduce vigilance or stop believing with all of his heart and mind that the Ori were going to come and Atlantis was going to have to make the last stand and it was his job to best prepare them for that. But all of the waiting had taken a little bit of the edge off and, belatedly, he realized that's what had been making him feel uncomfortable in his own skin all day. He'd done all he could, asked of his men (and women) all that he could of them, and, intellectually, he knew that nobody had let him down. But the skirmish today was nonetheless a sharp reminder that that might not be enough and his restlessness had been a lousy attempt at avoiding that harsh fact.