Scena con Variazione by ceitie (Missing Persons Challenge)
Title: Scena con Variazione (Scene with Variation)
Author: ceitie
Genre: Gen
Word count: 962
Spoilers: The Siege 2
Summary: “Who are you people and where’s Dr. Weir?”
Author's note: This is the prologue to a longer fic that will start being posted in my journal after the challenge is over. Thanks to of_evangeline for the beta!
The wormhole half-flung him into Atlantis’ gate room, but Colonel Dillon Everett took it in stride. He shook his head to cast off the momentary dizziness and walked easily into the room. The soldiers lining the walls of the gate room slowly lowered their weapons, and Everett echoed their actions, knowing that his people would follow his lead.
There was something odd about the soldiers who now stood at attention in the gate room, something that sent the hairs prickling up on the back of his neck with its wrongness. He diverted the disturbance to the back of his mind, too busy taking in his new surroundings.
Atlantis was impressive, from what he could see of it. He took note of the room’s size and dim lighting as well as the shrieking klaxons that echoed off its tiled walls, but focused his attention on the three people rushing down the large central staircase towards him.
A man whose jacket sported panels of command red hurried down from the upper level, along with a woman in military gray and a second woman in a red flight suit. Everett tried to suppress a frown when he realized that he didn’t recognize any of them. He scanned his memory of the Atlantis expedition personnel files; he’d reviewed the files quickly and meticulously while preparing for the mission, but he found himself at a loss to match identities to the faces before him. It was possible, he reasoned, that they were some of the Pegasus galaxy natives who were apparently allowed free run of the city, rather than expedition members, but if that was the case -
“Who are you people and where’s Dr. Weir?” Everett asked brusquely.
The man opened his mouth to reply, but one of the women spoke first.
“Who are you?” she shot back, somehow sounding at once angry, hopeful and suspicious.
Everett eyed her flight suit and disgruntled expression, wondering if she was the leader of the natives who lived on the planet’s mainland, the alien who had become a member of Major Sheppard’s team. He thought both the flight suit and the soft curves of her body made that unlikely. The woman who stood next to her was a far better candidate for the infamous Teyla Emmagan. Dressed in a military uniform, she was dark and wiry, and held a P90 easily.
Everett felt realization hit him like a lightening bolt, as the source of the niggling sense of strangeness became instantly clear. The soldiers in the gate room were women. Every last one of them. Considering the fact that the all of the military personnel that had made the trip to Atlantis had been male, something really fucking weird was going on. Everett didn’t allow his friendly demeanor to slip, but he felt adrenaline surge through him as he began reassessing the situation. He answered the woman’s question, but kept his eyes on the man in command colours.
“Colonel Dillon Everett, United States Marine Corps. I need to see Dr. Weir immediately,” he said, looking for a reaction, trying to size up what was going on. The reports of a certain Sergeant Bates were abruptly flashing through his head, and he wondered if the natives had somehow taken control of Atlantis. He watched as the three strangers exchanged a quick series of glances, and tightened his grip on the weapon at his side.
The man turned away from the two women, looked Everett straight in the eye and said, “I’m Dr. Weir.”
Everett blinked and let out a short, astonished laugh. Despite the presence of the women, he said, “Bullshit,” out of pure surprise, but the woman in the flight suit broke in.
“Look, it’s true, alright?” she said, rolling her eyes. “She’s Dr. Weir, I’m Dr. McKay and that’s Major Sheppard, there was an accident with Ancient technology and now we’re all the opposite gender, how mind-bogglingly bizarre, blah blah blah.”
Everett dropped his smile. “I don’t have time for this. Cut the crap and tell me where I can find Dr. Weir, or,” he raised his weapon slightly, “we’re going to have a serious problem.”
The dark woman tensed, eyeing him. She muttered, “You don’t have time for this…”
The man shot her a warning glance and the woman in the flight suit ignored them both, glaring at Everett. She waved her hand in an exasperated, hurry-it-up gesture. “I assume you’ve seen our pictures, Colonel, so take a closer look, see if you notice any, shall we say, striking similarities?”
Her voice rose in pitch and speed. “If you could skip right past the shock and disbelief to the acceptance phase, that’d be great, seeing as we’re in the middle of an evacuation here and as of now there’s maybe six minutes left until the self-destruct goes off. So instead of asking stupid questions, why don’t you just tell us what you’re doing here?”
The other two were nodding along in frantic agreement, and Everett finally managed to peel his jaw off the floor. He closed his mouth and stared hard; the resemblances that he had missed before became suddenly apparent, like an optical illusion that became clear only after he had squinted his eyes properly. He felt a tilt, like his well-ordered universe had tipped on an angle without any warning, and somehow managed to keep his mouth from falling open again.
He turned to the thin, elegant man and asked uncertainly, “Dr. Weir?”
“Yes,” Weir said, crossing his arms over his chest.
Everett straightened his shoulders and tried to regroup, but did not quite succeed at casting off his disorientation and restoring his former self-assurance.
“General O'Neill sends his compliments on a job well done under extraordinary circumstances.” He saluted, swallowed, and continued. “You are relieved.”
~end~
Author: ceitie
Genre: Gen
Word count: 962
Spoilers: The Siege 2
Summary: “Who are you people and where’s Dr. Weir?”
Author's note: This is the prologue to a longer fic that will start being posted in my journal after the challenge is over. Thanks to of_evangeline for the beta!
The wormhole half-flung him into Atlantis’ gate room, but Colonel Dillon Everett took it in stride. He shook his head to cast off the momentary dizziness and walked easily into the room. The soldiers lining the walls of the gate room slowly lowered their weapons, and Everett echoed their actions, knowing that his people would follow his lead.
There was something odd about the soldiers who now stood at attention in the gate room, something that sent the hairs prickling up on the back of his neck with its wrongness. He diverted the disturbance to the back of his mind, too busy taking in his new surroundings.
Atlantis was impressive, from what he could see of it. He took note of the room’s size and dim lighting as well as the shrieking klaxons that echoed off its tiled walls, but focused his attention on the three people rushing down the large central staircase towards him.
A man whose jacket sported panels of command red hurried down from the upper level, along with a woman in military gray and a second woman in a red flight suit. Everett tried to suppress a frown when he realized that he didn’t recognize any of them. He scanned his memory of the Atlantis expedition personnel files; he’d reviewed the files quickly and meticulously while preparing for the mission, but he found himself at a loss to match identities to the faces before him. It was possible, he reasoned, that they were some of the Pegasus galaxy natives who were apparently allowed free run of the city, rather than expedition members, but if that was the case -
“Who are you people and where’s Dr. Weir?” Everett asked brusquely.
The man opened his mouth to reply, but one of the women spoke first.
“Who are you?” she shot back, somehow sounding at once angry, hopeful and suspicious.
Everett eyed her flight suit and disgruntled expression, wondering if she was the leader of the natives who lived on the planet’s mainland, the alien who had become a member of Major Sheppard’s team. He thought both the flight suit and the soft curves of her body made that unlikely. The woman who stood next to her was a far better candidate for the infamous Teyla Emmagan. Dressed in a military uniform, she was dark and wiry, and held a P90 easily.
Everett felt realization hit him like a lightening bolt, as the source of the niggling sense of strangeness became instantly clear. The soldiers in the gate room were women. Every last one of them. Considering the fact that the all of the military personnel that had made the trip to Atlantis had been male, something really fucking weird was going on. Everett didn’t allow his friendly demeanor to slip, but he felt adrenaline surge through him as he began reassessing the situation. He answered the woman’s question, but kept his eyes on the man in command colours.
“Colonel Dillon Everett, United States Marine Corps. I need to see Dr. Weir immediately,” he said, looking for a reaction, trying to size up what was going on. The reports of a certain Sergeant Bates were abruptly flashing through his head, and he wondered if the natives had somehow taken control of Atlantis. He watched as the three strangers exchanged a quick series of glances, and tightened his grip on the weapon at his side.
The man turned away from the two women, looked Everett straight in the eye and said, “I’m Dr. Weir.”
Everett blinked and let out a short, astonished laugh. Despite the presence of the women, he said, “Bullshit,” out of pure surprise, but the woman in the flight suit broke in.
“Look, it’s true, alright?” she said, rolling her eyes. “She’s Dr. Weir, I’m Dr. McKay and that’s Major Sheppard, there was an accident with Ancient technology and now we’re all the opposite gender, how mind-bogglingly bizarre, blah blah blah.”
Everett dropped his smile. “I don’t have time for this. Cut the crap and tell me where I can find Dr. Weir, or,” he raised his weapon slightly, “we’re going to have a serious problem.”
The dark woman tensed, eyeing him. She muttered, “You don’t have time for this…”
The man shot her a warning glance and the woman in the flight suit ignored them both, glaring at Everett. She waved her hand in an exasperated, hurry-it-up gesture. “I assume you’ve seen our pictures, Colonel, so take a closer look, see if you notice any, shall we say, striking similarities?”
Her voice rose in pitch and speed. “If you could skip right past the shock and disbelief to the acceptance phase, that’d be great, seeing as we’re in the middle of an evacuation here and as of now there’s maybe six minutes left until the self-destruct goes off. So instead of asking stupid questions, why don’t you just tell us what you’re doing here?”
The other two were nodding along in frantic agreement, and Everett finally managed to peel his jaw off the floor. He closed his mouth and stared hard; the resemblances that he had missed before became suddenly apparent, like an optical illusion that became clear only after he had squinted his eyes properly. He felt a tilt, like his well-ordered universe had tipped on an angle without any warning, and somehow managed to keep his mouth from falling open again.
He turned to the thin, elegant man and asked uncertainly, “Dr. Weir?”
“Yes,” Weir said, crossing his arms over his chest.
Everett straightened his shoulders and tried to regroup, but did not quite succeed at casting off his disorientation and restoring his former self-assurance.
“General O'Neill sends his compliments on a job well done under extraordinary circumstances.” He saluted, swallowed, and continued. “You are relieved.”
~end~