Fic: Protect and Survive I: Might Just Save Your Life (2/8)
Title: Protect and Survive I: Might Just Save Your Life (2/8)
Fandom: Stargate
Rating: K+
Genres: action/adventure, drama
Summary: Laura Cadman thought she came back to Atlantis for Carson Beckett... but things aren't really happening as planned, thanks to our favorite Major, Evan Lorne.
A/N: Second chapter and... let's just say things are starting to get interesting (also for me, by the way... it seems my plot bunnies should lay off the crossover crack because additionally to the Star Wars/Stargate bunny I have a Eureka/Stargate bunny hopping around here now...). Oh, also... everyone of you who got affected by the Ash Cloud Of DOOM (I'm looking at you, scherryzade ;)): my sympathies... I'll be taking the train to visit my grandma with my mom tomorrow and am not quite looking forward to it. Thank God for reservations.
( Might Just Save Your Life Prologue )
( Might Just Save Your Life 1/8 )
Two
As they step through the ‘Gate onto the dark planet, she needs a few seconds to shake off the dizzying feeling of ‘Gate travel. She’s been doing this for over three years now but she’s still not fully gotten used to it. In the back of her mind, she suspects she never will.
“Alright, people, I’ll take point, then Cadman, Jones and Meyers takes six. We’ll have a look at the village first.” He’s back in full combat mode and in a corner of her mind she finds the leisure to admire his determination and self-assured calm. She wonders if he’s always been like that or if there have been times when even Evan Lorne was just a teeny tiny wee little bit hot-headed, insecure or confused. Another thing she definitely needs to ask him when they’re back on Atlantis. Well… after he hopefully accepts her apology for being a little bitchy, that is.
They march through the dark forest from the ‘Gate to the village and something feels strange. All the while she feels edgy and distracted. It makes her angry at herself because it’s not her usual way. Missions are routine for her and she stopped having problems with concentrating on the task at hand and getting a grip on her nerves quite some time ago. In fact, she stopped shortly after boot camp.
Evan holds up his hand to stop them and turns around to face her. “Cadman?” he whispers.
“Yes, sir?” she whispers back, wishing they wouldn’t stop in this wretched nearly pitch black forest.
“Is it just me or is something seriously wrong here?” So he noticed the strange quiet as well. She finds herself wishing he didn’t because Evan Lorne feeling spooked by it makes it somehow real and quite a serious threat. If it had been just her she could have attributed it to PMS or something but if her CO feels it as well… they have a problem.
“No, I’m right with you. What about you, Jones? Meyers?” She turns around to her fellow Marines. Both of them give her an affirmative. Crap.
“Okay… I want you all to be very careful. We have no idea what happened and we have no idea if there are any friendlies left on the planet. We’ll go to the village, take a quick vid, check the contamination scanners and lifesigns detectors and get away as fast as we can.” With that they start moving again but closer to each other now.
It’s why she can actually hear him whisper something that’s most probably only meant for himself, “Wish we’d gotten a jumper.”
She can’t help but muttering back, “Speaking of which… why didn’t we?”
He turns around and she’s not sure if she can see surprise in his eyes or if that’s just a trick of sparse moonlight that is now filtering through the leaves. “Woolsey thought it would be a waste on such a mission. Sheppard tried to convince him the jumpers were perfect for this kind of mission but he wouldn’t hear anything of it. I swear, one day, I’m gonna… never mind,” he whispers back and now she’s sure she could hear a good deal of agitation and frustration in his voice.
She can’t help smirking a bit to herself. Just another hint that behind his carefully maintained calm, well-behaved duty façade there’s another Evan Lorne. She’d seen some of it whenever he’s on a mission with McKay - Evan Lorne being snarky at genius McKay was surely a sight to see - or in his e-mails or whenever they met off-duty but even then she had the feeling he was not quite letting himself go. In the flash of an instant, she has build herself a new private mission: discover what Evan’s like when he’s not holding back. And she already has some ideas how to… but not now. They arrived at the village.
It’s situated in a clearing and now the night isn’t as dark anymore. The light of a small moon is sneaking through the clouds above, dipping the scenery in an eerie and somehow unreal light. The village consists of a couple of stone houses, built around a market square. It’s the outpost of a larger town a couple of miles to the east and was meant as a kind of relay station to Atlantis, in case there was any trouble on the planet.
And trouble there is indeed. The whole place is dark, not a light in any of the windows or on the market square. According to local time it’s around late evening, 2200 or something. There should still be life on the square. She turns to Evan. He seems to have the same thoughts and a quick look at the lifesigns detector confirms them. Nothing. Without another word he gestures for them to move to the nearest house. Careful they make their way over the open, the rifles level. When they arrive at the house, Evan signals Meyers to light into the nearest window.
She takes a short look inside as well but there’s nothing really hinting at what could have happened, except that the house looks quite empty. She throws another look at Evan, questioningly and he nods. Inside, then. And there comes another surprise. When no one opens after a pro forma knock, Jones tries the door latch… and the door opens without difficulties.
Another look at Evan and the guys and she finds herself confirmed again. Something’s not right here and the whole thing already gives her the creeps. She can feel goose bumps all along her arms and her neck. Gripping her rifle a little tighter, she enters the house after Jones went in. It’s not a big house and after only a few minutes they have all four rooms secured.
“So… anyone noticed anything strange?” Evan suddenly breaks the silence and she has to muster up a lot of energy not to jump at his low voice.
“You mean, apart from the fact that this whole village is empty, only an hour or something after we got the distress call?” She’s put more sarcasm into her voice than she’d wanted to, but she still needs to cover up the small shock after Evan speaking up.
“Lieutenant…” He’s not amused. But before she can answer, Jones speaks up.
“There are no traces of any fighting.”
“Exactly.” Evan nods and after a few moments to think, he shakes his head. “We need to find out what happened here but this is too big for just one team. We’ll go back to the ‘Gate and call in reinforcements. Alright, move out.” Well, she thinks, that was one of the shortest missions she ever had. But she agrees with him. Whatever happened here, it’s too big for a team of four soldiers.
So they leave the house again, in the same formation. She hates to admit it but when Evan ordered them back to the ‘Gate, she felt actually relieved. The goose bumps just won’t stop and she’s started to feel watched as well. She’s sure she’ll feel better with a little more firepower on their side.
But obviously Fate decided not to make this too easy for them. When they’ve reached the edge of the forest, she hears a faint, but very pronounced “Aw, crap.” from Evan. Before either of them can ask, he’s already showing them the lifesigns detector. And suddenly there’s quite a bunch of them on it, right in front of the ‘Gate. Starting to move towards them. They all share a look and it becomes quite apparent that none of them thinks it’s just the villagers greeting them and having a good laugh about a little prank call at Atlantis.
“We’re gonna take cover in the woods east of the village and head for the town. Move.” In one fluent move, they turn around and run east. They make it to the forest and dive for cover, just in the right moment. The first lifesigns have nearly reached the village. All of them are lying behind a log and have their rifles trained on the entrance to the woods in the direction of the ‘Gate.
And then they are there. She nearly gasps. She’d counted on a lot of things - raised pitchforks, maybe, and torches, the usual rabid mob things… but she wasn’t prepared for that. A few moments she’s scared enough to start rambling ‘Ohfuckohfuckohfuck.’ under her breath but years of training and drill have left enough iron clamps on her fear that she can just barely hold back herself.
There, in the ghostly moonlight, a group of maybe ten or fifteen… figures is moving through the village, silent and not quite like humans. But what shocks her the most is when she trains the scope of her weapon on one of the figures faces. It used to be human, she can recognize that, but now… it’s distorted with countless cuts, bruises and lacerations. There’s dried blood on it and mud and… then she sees the eyes and it makes her hands tremble.
She can’t remember ever having seen such malice, such bloodlust in the eyes of any human being before. It makes her blood run cold, her toes curl and the little hairs on her neck stand up. For a moment, she actually freezes in her position. Then she manages to close her eyes and turn away from the scope.
Luckily, she finds herself face to face with Evan, only inches apart from him and looks into his eyes that are still calm and reassuring, even if his face has tensed up as well. She realizes that as long as his eyes are like this, she won’t panic because she trusts him and his judgment with her life.
Then the moment is gone and very carefully he moves to signal her that there’s still a considerable amount of lifesigns clustering the ‘Gate and that he wants the team to get around them in a wide curve. She nods and relays the signal to Jones and Meyers. In the village, the figures have gathered on the square, as if they were having some briefing or meeting. Great, she inwardly groans, they’re organized. Organized and mad.
Another look at Evan, and he just nods and very carefully gets up. With a growing bad feeling in her heart, she gets up as well and follows him, hoping that these figures won’t hear them. Or, worse, have lifesigns detectors of their own.
~*~
TBC in Might Just Save Your Life 3/8.
Fandom: Stargate
Rating: K+
Genres: action/adventure, drama
Summary: Laura Cadman thought she came back to Atlantis for Carson Beckett... but things aren't really happening as planned, thanks to our favorite Major, Evan Lorne.
A/N: Second chapter and... let's just say things are starting to get interesting (also for me, by the way... it seems my plot bunnies should lay off the crossover crack because additionally to the Star Wars/Stargate bunny I have a Eureka/Stargate bunny hopping around here now...). Oh, also... everyone of you who got affected by the Ash Cloud Of DOOM (I'm looking at you, scherryzade ;)): my sympathies... I'll be taking the train to visit my grandma with my mom tomorrow and am not quite looking forward to it. Thank God for reservations.
( Might Just Save Your Life Prologue )
( Might Just Save Your Life 1/8 )
Two
As they step through the ‘Gate onto the dark planet, she needs a few seconds to shake off the dizzying feeling of ‘Gate travel. She’s been doing this for over three years now but she’s still not fully gotten used to it. In the back of her mind, she suspects she never will.
“Alright, people, I’ll take point, then Cadman, Jones and Meyers takes six. We’ll have a look at the village first.” He’s back in full combat mode and in a corner of her mind she finds the leisure to admire his determination and self-assured calm. She wonders if he’s always been like that or if there have been times when even Evan Lorne was just a teeny tiny wee little bit hot-headed, insecure or confused. Another thing she definitely needs to ask him when they’re back on Atlantis. Well… after he hopefully accepts her apology for being a little bitchy, that is.
They march through the dark forest from the ‘Gate to the village and something feels strange. All the while she feels edgy and distracted. It makes her angry at herself because it’s not her usual way. Missions are routine for her and she stopped having problems with concentrating on the task at hand and getting a grip on her nerves quite some time ago. In fact, she stopped shortly after boot camp.
Evan holds up his hand to stop them and turns around to face her. “Cadman?” he whispers.
“Yes, sir?” she whispers back, wishing they wouldn’t stop in this wretched nearly pitch black forest.
“Is it just me or is something seriously wrong here?” So he noticed the strange quiet as well. She finds herself wishing he didn’t because Evan Lorne feeling spooked by it makes it somehow real and quite a serious threat. If it had been just her she could have attributed it to PMS or something but if her CO feels it as well… they have a problem.
“No, I’m right with you. What about you, Jones? Meyers?” She turns around to her fellow Marines. Both of them give her an affirmative. Crap.
“Okay… I want you all to be very careful. We have no idea what happened and we have no idea if there are any friendlies left on the planet. We’ll go to the village, take a quick vid, check the contamination scanners and lifesigns detectors and get away as fast as we can.” With that they start moving again but closer to each other now.
It’s why she can actually hear him whisper something that’s most probably only meant for himself, “Wish we’d gotten a jumper.”
She can’t help but muttering back, “Speaking of which… why didn’t we?”
He turns around and she’s not sure if she can see surprise in his eyes or if that’s just a trick of sparse moonlight that is now filtering through the leaves. “Woolsey thought it would be a waste on such a mission. Sheppard tried to convince him the jumpers were perfect for this kind of mission but he wouldn’t hear anything of it. I swear, one day, I’m gonna… never mind,” he whispers back and now she’s sure she could hear a good deal of agitation and frustration in his voice.
She can’t help smirking a bit to herself. Just another hint that behind his carefully maintained calm, well-behaved duty façade there’s another Evan Lorne. She’d seen some of it whenever he’s on a mission with McKay - Evan Lorne being snarky at genius McKay was surely a sight to see - or in his e-mails or whenever they met off-duty but even then she had the feeling he was not quite letting himself go. In the flash of an instant, she has build herself a new private mission: discover what Evan’s like when he’s not holding back. And she already has some ideas how to… but not now. They arrived at the village.
It’s situated in a clearing and now the night isn’t as dark anymore. The light of a small moon is sneaking through the clouds above, dipping the scenery in an eerie and somehow unreal light. The village consists of a couple of stone houses, built around a market square. It’s the outpost of a larger town a couple of miles to the east and was meant as a kind of relay station to Atlantis, in case there was any trouble on the planet.
And trouble there is indeed. The whole place is dark, not a light in any of the windows or on the market square. According to local time it’s around late evening, 2200 or something. There should still be life on the square. She turns to Evan. He seems to have the same thoughts and a quick look at the lifesigns detector confirms them. Nothing. Without another word he gestures for them to move to the nearest house. Careful they make their way over the open, the rifles level. When they arrive at the house, Evan signals Meyers to light into the nearest window.
She takes a short look inside as well but there’s nothing really hinting at what could have happened, except that the house looks quite empty. She throws another look at Evan, questioningly and he nods. Inside, then. And there comes another surprise. When no one opens after a pro forma knock, Jones tries the door latch… and the door opens without difficulties.
Another look at Evan and the guys and she finds herself confirmed again. Something’s not right here and the whole thing already gives her the creeps. She can feel goose bumps all along her arms and her neck. Gripping her rifle a little tighter, she enters the house after Jones went in. It’s not a big house and after only a few minutes they have all four rooms secured.
“So… anyone noticed anything strange?” Evan suddenly breaks the silence and she has to muster up a lot of energy not to jump at his low voice.
“You mean, apart from the fact that this whole village is empty, only an hour or something after we got the distress call?” She’s put more sarcasm into her voice than she’d wanted to, but she still needs to cover up the small shock after Evan speaking up.
“Lieutenant…” He’s not amused. But before she can answer, Jones speaks up.
“There are no traces of any fighting.”
“Exactly.” Evan nods and after a few moments to think, he shakes his head. “We need to find out what happened here but this is too big for just one team. We’ll go back to the ‘Gate and call in reinforcements. Alright, move out.” Well, she thinks, that was one of the shortest missions she ever had. But she agrees with him. Whatever happened here, it’s too big for a team of four soldiers.
So they leave the house again, in the same formation. She hates to admit it but when Evan ordered them back to the ‘Gate, she felt actually relieved. The goose bumps just won’t stop and she’s started to feel watched as well. She’s sure she’ll feel better with a little more firepower on their side.
But obviously Fate decided not to make this too easy for them. When they’ve reached the edge of the forest, she hears a faint, but very pronounced “Aw, crap.” from Evan. Before either of them can ask, he’s already showing them the lifesigns detector. And suddenly there’s quite a bunch of them on it, right in front of the ‘Gate. Starting to move towards them. They all share a look and it becomes quite apparent that none of them thinks it’s just the villagers greeting them and having a good laugh about a little prank call at Atlantis.
“We’re gonna take cover in the woods east of the village and head for the town. Move.” In one fluent move, they turn around and run east. They make it to the forest and dive for cover, just in the right moment. The first lifesigns have nearly reached the village. All of them are lying behind a log and have their rifles trained on the entrance to the woods in the direction of the ‘Gate.
And then they are there. She nearly gasps. She’d counted on a lot of things - raised pitchforks, maybe, and torches, the usual rabid mob things… but she wasn’t prepared for that. A few moments she’s scared enough to start rambling ‘Ohfuckohfuckohfuck.’ under her breath but years of training and drill have left enough iron clamps on her fear that she can just barely hold back herself.
There, in the ghostly moonlight, a group of maybe ten or fifteen… figures is moving through the village, silent and not quite like humans. But what shocks her the most is when she trains the scope of her weapon on one of the figures faces. It used to be human, she can recognize that, but now… it’s distorted with countless cuts, bruises and lacerations. There’s dried blood on it and mud and… then she sees the eyes and it makes her hands tremble.
She can’t remember ever having seen such malice, such bloodlust in the eyes of any human being before. It makes her blood run cold, her toes curl and the little hairs on her neck stand up. For a moment, she actually freezes in her position. Then she manages to close her eyes and turn away from the scope.
Luckily, she finds herself face to face with Evan, only inches apart from him and looks into his eyes that are still calm and reassuring, even if his face has tensed up as well. She realizes that as long as his eyes are like this, she won’t panic because she trusts him and his judgment with her life.
Then the moment is gone and very carefully he moves to signal her that there’s still a considerable amount of lifesigns clustering the ‘Gate and that he wants the team to get around them in a wide curve. She nods and relays the signal to Jones and Meyers. In the village, the figures have gathered on the square, as if they were having some briefing or meeting. Great, she inwardly groans, they’re organized. Organized and mad.
Another look at Evan, and he just nods and very carefully gets up. With a growing bad feeling in her heart, she gets up as well and follows him, hoping that these figures won’t hear them. Or, worse, have lifesigns detectors of their own.
~*~
TBC in Might Just Save Your Life 3/8.