[Stargate: Fic] "Comptatibility of Souls: Ch. 9: International Operation" [10/12] [John/Rodney, G]
Title: Chapter Nine: International Operation
Author: Ami Ven
Rating: G
Word Count: 1,650
Prompt: mcsheplets challenge #052 ‘destiny’
Fandom: Stargate Atlantis
Pairing(s): John Sheppard/Rodney McKay
Summary: Rodney is a Canadian weapons expert and John is an American soldier.
International Operation
Warning! This chapter contains mentioned of historically-accurate homophobia, which the main characters do not believe, and the deaths of these incarnations of the main characters.
Marne River, near Paris, France
1917 A.D.
Rodney cursed as he slipped in the mud for the dozenth time. This was not what he signed up for when he enlisted in the Canadian army- he was a genius! He’d been promised state-of-the-art labs, a staff he could pick himself, regular meals, dry clothes…
He sighed. Really, all of this was his own fault. He’d over-emphasized his own importance, apparently to all the wrong people. If he was the only one who could understand how the new gun emplacement worked, then he was the only one who could supervise the field test. But he was absolutely not taking the blame for their ‘secure’ testing site becoming the front line, or for his ‘crack’ team of soldiers to go haring off toward the action, leaving him- and the prototype- undefended.
Rodney had felt oddly numb as he’d set the charges that destroyed five months of work, rather than let it fall into enemy hands, so that he hadn’t even felt the falling embers singe his uniform.
He sighed again, feeling the mud squelsh between his fingers as he pushed himself back to his feet.
Rodney had only walked a few more yards when a voice from behind him said, “Halt! Identify yourself!”
“If you’re going to shoot me, go ahead,” he said, wearily.
“You’re American?”
“I’m Canadian,” Rodney protested. Raising his empty hands, he turned to find a single American soldier, looking just as muddy as he felt, holding a rifle on him. “Major Rodney McKay.”
The American lowered his weapon. “Captain John Sheppard.”
It figured that even as allies, no two countries could communicate with each other, Rodney thought, as he followed Sheppard to the American forward trenches, not more than an hour’s walk from their weapon testing site.
“Colonel Weir!” Sheppard called, as they approached a tall, dark-haired officer. “Major McKay, Canadian weapons expert.”
“Weapons expert?” Weir repeated, folding his arms and raising an eyebrow. “And you just found him?”
Sheppard grinned. “Yes, sir.”
The colonel maintained his scowl for a moment, then sighed. “All right, captain, he’s yours. I’ll radio HQ and see how much trouble that’ll cost us with the Canadian brass.”
“Thank you, sir,” said Sheppard, but Rodney frowned.
“Don’t I get a say in this?” he asked, belatedly remembering to add, “Sir?”
“This is the army, major,” said Weir. “Of course you don’t get a say. And since this is an American operation, you will temporarily be under the command of Captain Sheppard.”
“Under-” Rodney began, but he was too tired and too sore to manage a real argument. Besides, he hadn’t been making a lot of progress in his last assignment, and he couldn’t even have named any of the men in his previous unit. “Yes, sir.”
“Welcome aboard, major,” said Weir. “Captain, show the major where he can clean up.”
Sheppard saluted. “Yes, sir.”
Rodney followed him through the maze of temporary shelters and equipment. “I hope you don’t expect me to call you ‘sir’,” he snapped.
“Nah,” Sheppard drawled.
There was a mirror hung above a rain barrel, and Rodney had managed to remove most of the sweat and grime from his face when Sheppard, somewhere behind him, said, “Hey, guys.”
He was smiling at two more officers, neither of them in American uniforms. “Hello, John,” said the smaller man, smiling back
“McKay, this is Lieutenant Teylan Emmagan, of the French Army, and Liutenant Ronon Dex, of the Brazilian Army. Gentlemen, this is Major Rodney McKay. He’s Canadian.”
“Is he a weapons man?” Ronon rumbled.
“Yep,” said Sheppard.
“How fortuitous,” said Teylan, with a knowing smile.
Sheppard just grinned. “Let’s go plan our first raid.”
Three raids on German weapons depots later, Rodney could hardly believe that he was glad to have been co-opted into this unit. More often than not, he was tired and dirty and mildly injured, but when he collapsed into his cot after a mission, listening to the sounds of his teammates’ steady breathing, the risks seemed worth it.
Of course, sometimes, their raids also required lots of waiting, often hours at a time, unmoving, in a muddy trench. Rodney would have been much less fond of those missions if it hadn’t been for Sheppard. No matter how much space they had in the trenches, the captain always ended up next to him, pressed up tight against Rodney’s side.
He fit perfectly, too, in a way no woman ever had, and Rodney tried not to think about that too much. He knew there were men who… preferred, with other men, but Sheppard was his friend, and that meant more than any amount of sex ever could. Instead, Rodney ended up risking his life to save Sheppard’s, more than once, which was something he’d never even have considered a few months ago.
Further along the trench, Teylan gave a low whistle, the signal for them to get ready. Rodney eased up to peer over the edge of the dirt wall, and slid back down. “The lines are moving west,” he reported.
“Great,” said Sheppard. “Let’s go.”
They crept out of the trench, to the shelter of the nearby woods. Teylan vanished at once- he could move silently, even without trying- and Rodney stuck close to Sheppard. He had the explosives in his pack, the high-yield, low-weight model that Rodney had developed.
They had intel that the Germans were building something new, something big, and they had orders to stop it. With the main fighting directed elsewhere, it was easier for four people to sneak in behind the German lines and find a large, canvas-covered object.
“Teylan, Ronon, keep us clear,” said Sheppard. “McKay and I will set the bomb.”
There were six guards around the device, easily dispatched, and Rodney pulled back the canvas sheet.
“Oh, no,” he said. “No, no… Sheppard, we can’t blow this up.”
“What?” Sheppard said, frowning at the machine. “Sure we can.”
“No, we can’t,” Rodney countered. “See those canisters? Those are mustard gas. And if we blow this thing up, yes, there’s a chance it might incinerate it, but there’s also a chance- a very good chance- that it’ll just re-vaporize it and release a massive cloud. Which, with the prevailing wind, will-”
“-head straight for our troops,” finished Sheppard. “Options.”
“We dismantle the machine and release the gas here,” Rodney said, softly. “With the very great risk of vaporizing enough gas to kill us both. And if it doesn’t, this will take so much longer than just planting a bomb that the Germans will find us and shoot us.”
Sheppard was silent for a moment. “Teylan, Ronon,” he said, calling them closer. “Change of plans. Head back to our lines- keep a path open for us, and we’ll be right behind you, coming in hot.”
Teylan didn’t argue, just nodded and leaned forward to kiss Sheppard, then Rodney, on both cheeks. “Luck be with you, my friends,” he said.
Ronon clapped them each on the shoulder before they left, and Sheppard said, “How do I break this thing?”
“What?”
“This machine, McKay. Tell me how to break it, so you can get out of here.”
“I’m not leaving you,” said Rodney, shocked. “Sheppard-”
“This is a suicide mission, Rodney,” Sheppard growled. “And I won’t let you-”
Rodney yanked open his pack and pulled out a wrench. “I’m the only one who can do this, and you know it.”
Funny, he thought he’d be more upset about his imminent demise, but he felt unbelievably calm.
Sheppard, apparently, didn’t. “You are under my command, major,” he snapped, “and you will follow orders!”
“I resign,” Rodney said, smoothly. He used the wrench to open an access panel and peered inside. “Now, go, Sheppard.”
There was silence, for a moment, as Rodney began pulling out wires, and he thought that Sheppard had listened to him until a body pressed suddenly against him, lips colliding into his- Sheppard was kissing him.
Rodney was quick to kiss him back, hands roaming inside Sheppard’s jacket, but the moment his palm slid over Sheppard’s heart, he pulled back. “Go, Sheppard,” he rasped, breathless. “There’s enough time-”
He was interrupted by another kiss, deeper and more insistent than the first. “I can’t,” breathed Sheppard, his voice ragged. “Rodney, please, I can’t.”
Sheppard’s hands, holding tight to the front of Rodney’s jacket, were shaking and as Rodney brought his own to close around Sheppard’s wrists, he realized that he was shaking, too.
“Oh,” Rodney said, as half-forgotten instances came together in crystal-clear focus, not just about Sheppard’s behavior but his own. “Oh,” he said, remembering how he would squeeze in next to Sheppard in every cold, muddy trench, no matter how much space was left; how Sheppard declined dances with the village girls to drink cheap wine under the stars with him; how for weeks, months, they had never been far from each other’s orbit… and how had he never noticed?
Rodney drew a deep, shuddering breath and turned back to the machine. “See if there’s another access panel,” he said, his voice much steadier than he felt himself.
Sheppard darted in to kiss him again, then began circling the device. They found two more panels and pulled as many wires as they could, then paused.
“Okay,” said Rodney. “You’ll need to shoot it several times, right there.”
Sheppard drew his revolver and fired six shots at the place where Rodney had pointed. From inside the machine came a gurgle, a rush of liquid and an ominous hiss.
“The gas?” Sheppard asked.
Rodney nodded. “Sheppard- John, I-” he began, and then they were kissing again, bodies pressed tight, not even breaking for air. The mustard gas would only affect them if they breathed it in, and Rodney knew which kind of breathlessness he preferred.
They were so busy kissing that they never even heard the approaching soldiers, or the bullets that killed them.
Who’s Who
Rodney McKay as a Canadian soldier, a weapons expert
John Sheppard as an American soldier
Teyla Emmagan as Teylan Emmagan, a French soldier
Ronon Dex as a Brazilian soldier
Elizabeth Weir as John’s commanding officer
Chapter Ten
Current Mood:
mellow
Author: Ami Ven
Rating: G
Word Count: 1,650
Prompt: mcsheplets challenge #052 ‘destiny’
Fandom: Stargate Atlantis
Pairing(s): John Sheppard/Rodney McKay
Summary: Rodney is a Canadian weapons expert and John is an American soldier.
International Operation
Warning! This chapter contains mentioned of historically-accurate homophobia, which the main characters do not believe, and the deaths of these incarnations of the main characters.
Marne River, near Paris, France
1917 A.D.
Rodney cursed as he slipped in the mud for the dozenth time. This was not what he signed up for when he enlisted in the Canadian army- he was a genius! He’d been promised state-of-the-art labs, a staff he could pick himself, regular meals, dry clothes…
He sighed. Really, all of this was his own fault. He’d over-emphasized his own importance, apparently to all the wrong people. If he was the only one who could understand how the new gun emplacement worked, then he was the only one who could supervise the field test. But he was absolutely not taking the blame for their ‘secure’ testing site becoming the front line, or for his ‘crack’ team of soldiers to go haring off toward the action, leaving him- and the prototype- undefended.
Rodney had felt oddly numb as he’d set the charges that destroyed five months of work, rather than let it fall into enemy hands, so that he hadn’t even felt the falling embers singe his uniform.
He sighed again, feeling the mud squelsh between his fingers as he pushed himself back to his feet.
Rodney had only walked a few more yards when a voice from behind him said, “Halt! Identify yourself!”
“If you’re going to shoot me, go ahead,” he said, wearily.
“You’re American?”
“I’m Canadian,” Rodney protested. Raising his empty hands, he turned to find a single American soldier, looking just as muddy as he felt, holding a rifle on him. “Major Rodney McKay.”
The American lowered his weapon. “Captain John Sheppard.”
It figured that even as allies, no two countries could communicate with each other, Rodney thought, as he followed Sheppard to the American forward trenches, not more than an hour’s walk from their weapon testing site.
“Colonel Weir!” Sheppard called, as they approached a tall, dark-haired officer. “Major McKay, Canadian weapons expert.”
“Weapons expert?” Weir repeated, folding his arms and raising an eyebrow. “And you just found him?”
Sheppard grinned. “Yes, sir.”
The colonel maintained his scowl for a moment, then sighed. “All right, captain, he’s yours. I’ll radio HQ and see how much trouble that’ll cost us with the Canadian brass.”
“Thank you, sir,” said Sheppard, but Rodney frowned.
“Don’t I get a say in this?” he asked, belatedly remembering to add, “Sir?”
“This is the army, major,” said Weir. “Of course you don’t get a say. And since this is an American operation, you will temporarily be under the command of Captain Sheppard.”
“Under-” Rodney began, but he was too tired and too sore to manage a real argument. Besides, he hadn’t been making a lot of progress in his last assignment, and he couldn’t even have named any of the men in his previous unit. “Yes, sir.”
“Welcome aboard, major,” said Weir. “Captain, show the major where he can clean up.”
Sheppard saluted. “Yes, sir.”
Rodney followed him through the maze of temporary shelters and equipment. “I hope you don’t expect me to call you ‘sir’,” he snapped.
“Nah,” Sheppard drawled.
There was a mirror hung above a rain barrel, and Rodney had managed to remove most of the sweat and grime from his face when Sheppard, somewhere behind him, said, “Hey, guys.”
He was smiling at two more officers, neither of them in American uniforms. “Hello, John,” said the smaller man, smiling back
“McKay, this is Lieutenant Teylan Emmagan, of the French Army, and Liutenant Ronon Dex, of the Brazilian Army. Gentlemen, this is Major Rodney McKay. He’s Canadian.”
“Is he a weapons man?” Ronon rumbled.
“Yep,” said Sheppard.
“How fortuitous,” said Teylan, with a knowing smile.
Sheppard just grinned. “Let’s go plan our first raid.”
Three raids on German weapons depots later, Rodney could hardly believe that he was glad to have been co-opted into this unit. More often than not, he was tired and dirty and mildly injured, but when he collapsed into his cot after a mission, listening to the sounds of his teammates’ steady breathing, the risks seemed worth it.
Of course, sometimes, their raids also required lots of waiting, often hours at a time, unmoving, in a muddy trench. Rodney would have been much less fond of those missions if it hadn’t been for Sheppard. No matter how much space they had in the trenches, the captain always ended up next to him, pressed up tight against Rodney’s side.
He fit perfectly, too, in a way no woman ever had, and Rodney tried not to think about that too much. He knew there were men who… preferred, with other men, but Sheppard was his friend, and that meant more than any amount of sex ever could. Instead, Rodney ended up risking his life to save Sheppard’s, more than once, which was something he’d never even have considered a few months ago.
Further along the trench, Teylan gave a low whistle, the signal for them to get ready. Rodney eased up to peer over the edge of the dirt wall, and slid back down. “The lines are moving west,” he reported.
“Great,” said Sheppard. “Let’s go.”
They crept out of the trench, to the shelter of the nearby woods. Teylan vanished at once- he could move silently, even without trying- and Rodney stuck close to Sheppard. He had the explosives in his pack, the high-yield, low-weight model that Rodney had developed.
They had intel that the Germans were building something new, something big, and they had orders to stop it. With the main fighting directed elsewhere, it was easier for four people to sneak in behind the German lines and find a large, canvas-covered object.
“Teylan, Ronon, keep us clear,” said Sheppard. “McKay and I will set the bomb.”
There were six guards around the device, easily dispatched, and Rodney pulled back the canvas sheet.
“Oh, no,” he said. “No, no… Sheppard, we can’t blow this up.”
“What?” Sheppard said, frowning at the machine. “Sure we can.”
“No, we can’t,” Rodney countered. “See those canisters? Those are mustard gas. And if we blow this thing up, yes, there’s a chance it might incinerate it, but there’s also a chance- a very good chance- that it’ll just re-vaporize it and release a massive cloud. Which, with the prevailing wind, will-”
“-head straight for our troops,” finished Sheppard. “Options.”
“We dismantle the machine and release the gas here,” Rodney said, softly. “With the very great risk of vaporizing enough gas to kill us both. And if it doesn’t, this will take so much longer than just planting a bomb that the Germans will find us and shoot us.”
Sheppard was silent for a moment. “Teylan, Ronon,” he said, calling them closer. “Change of plans. Head back to our lines- keep a path open for us, and we’ll be right behind you, coming in hot.”
Teylan didn’t argue, just nodded and leaned forward to kiss Sheppard, then Rodney, on both cheeks. “Luck be with you, my friends,” he said.
Ronon clapped them each on the shoulder before they left, and Sheppard said, “How do I break this thing?”
“What?”
“This machine, McKay. Tell me how to break it, so you can get out of here.”
“I’m not leaving you,” said Rodney, shocked. “Sheppard-”
“This is a suicide mission, Rodney,” Sheppard growled. “And I won’t let you-”
Rodney yanked open his pack and pulled out a wrench. “I’m the only one who can do this, and you know it.”
Funny, he thought he’d be more upset about his imminent demise, but he felt unbelievably calm.
Sheppard, apparently, didn’t. “You are under my command, major,” he snapped, “and you will follow orders!”
“I resign,” Rodney said, smoothly. He used the wrench to open an access panel and peered inside. “Now, go, Sheppard.”
There was silence, for a moment, as Rodney began pulling out wires, and he thought that Sheppard had listened to him until a body pressed suddenly against him, lips colliding into his- Sheppard was kissing him.
Rodney was quick to kiss him back, hands roaming inside Sheppard’s jacket, but the moment his palm slid over Sheppard’s heart, he pulled back. “Go, Sheppard,” he rasped, breathless. “There’s enough time-”
He was interrupted by another kiss, deeper and more insistent than the first. “I can’t,” breathed Sheppard, his voice ragged. “Rodney, please, I can’t.”
Sheppard’s hands, holding tight to the front of Rodney’s jacket, were shaking and as Rodney brought his own to close around Sheppard’s wrists, he realized that he was shaking, too.
“Oh,” Rodney said, as half-forgotten instances came together in crystal-clear focus, not just about Sheppard’s behavior but his own. “Oh,” he said, remembering how he would squeeze in next to Sheppard in every cold, muddy trench, no matter how much space was left; how Sheppard declined dances with the village girls to drink cheap wine under the stars with him; how for weeks, months, they had never been far from each other’s orbit… and how had he never noticed?
Rodney drew a deep, shuddering breath and turned back to the machine. “See if there’s another access panel,” he said, his voice much steadier than he felt himself.
Sheppard darted in to kiss him again, then began circling the device. They found two more panels and pulled as many wires as they could, then paused.
“Okay,” said Rodney. “You’ll need to shoot it several times, right there.”
Sheppard drew his revolver and fired six shots at the place where Rodney had pointed. From inside the machine came a gurgle, a rush of liquid and an ominous hiss.
“The gas?” Sheppard asked.
Rodney nodded. “Sheppard- John, I-” he began, and then they were kissing again, bodies pressed tight, not even breaking for air. The mustard gas would only affect them if they breathed it in, and Rodney knew which kind of breathlessness he preferred.
They were so busy kissing that they never even heard the approaching soldiers, or the bullets that killed them.
Who’s Who
Rodney McKay as a Canadian soldier, a weapons expert
John Sheppard as an American soldier
Teyla Emmagan as Teylan Emmagan, a French soldier
Ronon Dex as a Brazilian soldier
Elizabeth Weir as John’s commanding officer
Chapter Ten
Current Mood:
mellow