Evil Author Day: Terror

Title: Terror

Author: Ladyholder

Fandom: Stargate: Atlantis

Paring: John/Rodney

A/N: This is part of the “Unlikely and Unwilling” universe

“Major Sheppard, I cannot allow you to break quarantine.”

“Carson, you are a good man and a great doctor, but I need to be with my Guide. Let me in,” John demanded as he talked to the CMO. He was prowling up and down the corridor near where the exploration group was holed up, trying to get in with the medical team so he could be with his Guide.

“John, you can’t go in there! What happens if you get infected?” Elizabeth demanded as she tried to place a placating hand on his arm.

Moving deftly out of the way to avoid her touch, John tried not to snarl at the woman. “Rodney is already infected Doctor. I need to get to my Guide.”

Lips pressed tightly together as her gesture was avoided, Elizabeth shook her head. “I can’t let you take that chance, John. The doors stay closed.”

“You can’t let me take that chance?” John looked at the titular Expedition leader. “Just what do you think will happen to me if I go in there?”

“I think we will lose the best chance we have of making the Ancient tech here Work. After all, you were brought on board this project because of your ability to interface with the tech, not as a Sentinel.”

Growling at the sheer arrogance of those words, John turned to look at her and snarled. “Are you trying to keep me from going to my Guide, Dr. Weir? To interfere between a bonded pair in a life or death situation?”

“To keep you safe? Yes! We need you here and alive!” she exclaimed.

“If Rodney dies, so do I, Dr. Weir. That is the nature of Sentinels and Guides. Sergeant Bates, escort Dr. Weir back to her office and keep her there,” John growled quietly as he worked to speak evenly. His hands were clenching and unclenching as he obviously fought his temper. Staring at the man before her, Weir finally clued into what was going on and backed off, her posture changing from challenging to submissive, obviously trying to calm the waters she had stirred.

“Yes sir. Dr. Weir, shall we?” Bates asked quietly as he waved his hand towards the door. John watched as his head of City security escorted her to her office. From the level of courtesy Bates was extending, John was certain he was trying to minimize any possible fallout that was going to result from their confrontation. Too bad the Sentinel didn’t care one way or another about the results of this or any other argument he had with that woman.

Tapping his radio, John opened the Pride channel his Guide had set up for them. “Rodney? Weir is out of the way now. What do you need me to do? How do I fix this?”

His Guide sounded beyond weary as he started to talk. “That action against Weir might come and bite us in the ass later, but I can’t find it in me to care right now. Carson has confirmed that there are Nanites in the blood samples of everyone and the ones affected have the nanites in massive numbers. The dead will likely have them as well.”

“Nanites? Who in the hell is playing with nanites? And where did they come from?” John demanded.

A little of Rodney’s usual fire lit his voice as he worked to enlighten his Sentinel. “Yes, Nanites. The Ancients are flaming assholes who decided to play with nightmares. Then they stored the damn things in breakable bottles in an open fucking lab,” the Guide huffed out an angry breath before speaking again. “I need to talk to Brio.”

John was quiet as Rodney switched them over to the medical channels, listening to his Guide as he tried to get every bit of useful information out of Brio. Carson’s second was doing double duty as the Expeditions ME and John didn’t envy her the job at all. But apparently she had found something helpful and  whatever Rodney was getting out of the mass of medical jargon was at least good by the honest late excitement in his voice.

The Sentinel felt a ripple of something from their Bond. Concentrating on the place inside that connects him to his Guide, John tested the emotion he wars receiving. It was terror. Gut wrenching, soul destroying terror that thundered down the bond he shared with Rodney. The other man was a past master at using his voice to motivate his minions, and he was using all those skills now to hide what he was going through.

“Radek, the Nanites that Carson showed us… Do they look like they are shielded to you?” Rodney asked.

Radek looked up from his perusal of the library console in the Nanite lab. “No. Little machines from hell do not show any shielding. Why?”

“Because you said it, the little suckers are machines. And every machine I know hates an EMP,” Rodney explained with an imperious eyebrow lift.

Eyes alight in anticipation, Radek turned to look at Terri Johnson, one of the lower ranked science team members who frequently got the scut jobs. “You have the supply list on your tablet, yes? Where is the portable EMP unit we constructed?”

Johnson’s hands were shaking as she pulled out her general use tablet. A few quick taps and she had the answer to his question and her hands had stopped shaking. “I have it in the storeroom by the Jumper Bay for ease of use,” she informed them. “But by the specs you uploaded on it, the pulse isn’t going to be big enough to get all the Nanites infecting all of us. It was built to be just big enough to take care of two or three people at a time and not short out the tower itself.”

Rodney could feel John reaching down their Bond as he digested the information. He was terrified of what was likely to happen to him if they didn’t figure a way out of this mess and that was bad enough. The terror imposed on him by the Nanites was worse because he could tell that they were reaching into the hind portion of his brain to find everything that scared him. And then they amplified it in surges. If his idea with the EMP didn’t work, the Guide had no idea how he was going to keep his Sentinel alive while he died.

Taking a deep breath, Rodney pushed that worry to the side and tried to force his mind to think. Each surge of terror from the Nanites caused him to freeze up and for a moment, pushed his mind into a complete blank. Only his training held his shields in place, and he was incredibly grateful that it did. If they failed… They wouldn’t need the Nanites to kill them, his abilities would do it neatly. “Major? Have you been following our discussion over here?”

“I have indeed. When we get out of this, remind me to show you how much I like your brain.”

Snorting lightly in amusement, Rodney ignored what his subconscious was presenting to torment him. “You’re on. Now get moving, Sentinel. I’m not going to be able to keep myself calm for too much longer.”

“Will do.” John agreed and the Guide could feel the love the other man had for him before the flood of emotion was cut off. “Bates, have you also been following the discussion?”

“I have Major. And I am standing in front of the EMP unit. I think I need to talk to Dr. Johnson and your Guide about their definition of ‘portable’.” The Sergeant commented dryly.

Snorting weakly in black humor, Johnson tapped her radio to defend the science teams honor. “It has wheels, can fit into a transporter and plugs into a naquadah generator. Portability at its best.”

His tone as dry as the Sahara, Bates shot back a quick “You know best, doc.” before the line was silent.

Rodney really hoped that this worked.

32 Comments:

  1. Oh damn. Well that was certainly a nerve wracking snippet.

  2. Well it’s official. You’re the cliffhanger queen of the night. Congratulations 😉

  3. You made me whine. Love Bates at the end. Want more.

  4. You do play so mean with the boys. I will be looking out for this one and all the others damn you. ~Goes to the corner to pout~

  5. I LOVE your Sentinel/Atlantis crossovers. This is awesome. Most awesome. What a cliffhanger! I feel like you have chucked ME over the cliff.

  6. Brains and Bates too! Thanks for sharing the love.

  7. Very good. Like the feel of the scene. Also, I adore Zelenka calling them ‘little machines from hell.’ lol

  8. Ohhhh bad Weir! Can’t wait for Rodney to rip into her or have John reach his limit on how much political maneuvering she’ll try and yell at her.

    You know I almost like Weir bashing as much as I like Keller bashing…huh I just realized that 🙂

    • LOL. I like the original Weir they had on SG1. The one for the show? She was nice and all, but not the one I still see in many ways. Which might be why I like bashing her a bit.

      ~L

  9. I am so glad to see more of this series. Little machines from Hell..Cliffhanger from hell.
    I’m looking forward to seeing more of this. Thank you.

  10. Ohhh! You are so delightfully evil! It may be short but you packed it full of all kinds of good things including a cute Zelenka and a really cool Bates. Can’t wait for you to paste the whole story.

  11. Oh, you are Evil, so so evil! Love this snippet!

  12. Greywolf the Wanderer

    thank you, your Evilness…
    Rodney’s right, the Ancients really were asshats. and it’s funny; I used to like Elizabeth pretty well. but I tend to see things from at least a quasi-military viewpoint and she’s not a good leader that way. and not as good a diplomat as she likes to think she is. huh. I wish they’d left Sam Carter there instead — although Woolsey did grow into it some…

  13. I’ll be looking forward to this one1

  14. Oh, I didn’t know you planned to continue this series. Hooray! I enjoy evil author day. Thanks

  15. I read this on Wraithbait long ago. I didn’t know you were going to continue it. Happy Dance! 🙂

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