Posted originally on the Archive_of_Our_Own at https://archiveofourown.org/
works/116277.
  Rating:
      Explicit
  Archive Warning:
      Graphic_Depictions_Of_Violence, Underage
  Category:
      F/M, M/M
  Fandom:
      Stargate_Atlantis
  Relationship:
      Rodney_McKay/John_Sheppard, Teyla_Emmagan/Kanaan, Ronon_Dex/Jeannie
      Miller
  Character:
      Rodney_McKay, John_Sheppard, Teyla_Emmagan, Kanaan, Ronon_Dex, Jeannie
      Miller, Elizabeth_Weir, Jennifer_Keller
  Additional Tags:
      BDSM, Flogging, Wordcount:_Over_50.000, Alternate_Universe_-_Dark,
      Spanking, Cross-Generation_Relationship, Mirror_Universe, Kink, Big_Bang
      Challenge, Sadism, Masochism, Bondage, Challenge:Atlantis_Big_Bang, One
      of_My_Favorites
  Series:
      Part 2 of The_Devil_You_Know
  Collections:
      Stories_from_the_2010_Atlantis_Big_Bang
  Stats:
      Published: 2010-09-14 Words: 60723
****** Giving the Devil His Due ******
by Telesilla
Summary
     Summary: Six months after the events of Make the Devil Feel Surprise,
     Rodney's come to terms with his place on Atlantis. However, unknown
     to the people of Atlantis, political tensions on Earth lead to
     increased scrutiny of Atlantis in general and its leaders in
     particular. When John learns of the State's decision to change the
     nature of the Expedition, he must make a decision that will affect
     everyone in the city.
Notes
     Art by Saldemonium; Art by marlislash_(fanarts_series)
     Please note, this is the second story in a series and you really do
     need to read Make_the_Devil_Feel_Surprise first.
     Warnings: This is a dark mirror universe and it's full of dark,
     angry, vicious and occasionally psychopath/sociopath characters. In
     addition to copious amounts of kinky, bdsm type sex between a sixteen
     year old and a forty-two year old, there's also an interrogation
     scene, hence the graphic violence warning.
See the end of the work for more notes
Shortly before the alarm was supposed to go off, John woke up to the sensation
of a warm wet mouth wrapped around his cock. Reaching down, he slid his fingers
into Rodney's hair and pushed down with his palm. Rodney moaned and took John's
dick in further, not even choking when John pressed up with his hips. He must
have been at it for a while because John was already close.
"Slut," John mumbled, tightening his fingers in Rodney's hair. "Cocksucking
slut...."
"Mmmmm hmmmm," Rodney hummed.
John moaned, trying to decide if he wanted to come in Rodney's mouth or fuck
him. Then Rodney hummed again and swallowed around the head of John's cock and
John came, his hips thrusting up almost helplessly.
"So," he said as Rodney sat up and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.
"What do you want?"
"What makes you think I want something?" Rodney asked. "Maybe I just felt like
blowing you."
"Uh uh...."
"Well...." Rodney laughed. "I have this hard on I'd like to do something with,
Sir."
"And that's all?"
"Unless you have some chocolate hidden around here somewhere."
"Kneel up," John said. He leaned forward and tugged hard at one of Rodney's
nipple rings.
"Please," Rodney murmured, shivering and biting his lower lip. "Please,
Sir...please."
"You really don't want anything?"
"I want a lot of things," Rodney said with a swallow. "But really, Sir, I
promise. I just woke up early and thought...." He trailed off with a moan as
John tugged harder.
"Go on." John glanced down at Rodney's dick. "Work it for me."
After six months as John's boy, Rodney didn't blush all the time any more, but
he still looked faintly embarrassed whenever John watched him jerk off. John
occasionally wondered if it was all an act. He didn't really care much, but....
"Stop," he said, reaching for Rodney's wrist. He'd just had the best idea.
"Please...." Rodney moaned, but he stopped right away. "Please, Sir."
"What are your plans for the day?"
"Um...I was going to spend time in the lab and I'm scheduled for some time on
the range this afternoon." Rodney gave him a curious look. "You have a mission,
don't you?"
"Just a quick check in with one of our agents." John got out of bed. "Stay
there."
"Oh, God," Rodney muttered when John went to the foot of the bed and rummaged
through the foot locker he kept there.
"Come back after lunch, clean yourself up and put this in," John said, tossing
a medium sized butt plug onto the bed in front of Rodney.
Rodney's eyes went wide. "I...do you really expect me to go to the range like
that?"
John gave him a look and Rodney sighed. "Yes, Sir." He picked up the plug,
glared at it and then put it on his nightstand.
"C'mon," John said. He was already pulling on a pair of sweats. "Ronon'll be
here in a few minutes."
Rodney's irritation didn't survive their run. It was winter on 'Lantea, which
meant they ran the inside circuit, and John knew Rodney couldn't resist the
sight of the bare bones of the city stretching above them as they ran across
the catwalks. One of the things John liked most about Rodney--aside from an
appetite for kinky sex that matched John's own--was the way Rodney loved
Atlantis. There were times when it seemed he was almost as possessive of the
city as John was.
If John had known that anyone else felt that way about his city, he'd have been
furious. But, maybe because Rodney was his as much as Atlantis was, John didn't
mind at all. In fact, Rodney's appreciation of the city reminded John of just
how pleased he was that all this, including Rodney, was his.
They split up after breakfast; Rodney heading off toward his lab and John
making his way to his office to read the latest military news in last night's
download from Earth.
It wasn't good and he was frowning as he headed toward the conference room to
meet with Elizabeth and the rest of his team.
"Let's get the mission briefing over with first," John said, once everyone had
settled down. "Do we know why Elthrin wants to see us?"
Elthrin was one of their oldest contacts. A trader who specialized in small,
luxury items, all he ever said about his people was that they'd all been culled
by the Wraith. While John didn't exactly trust him, he had to admit that
Elthrin had never betrayed them, even back when the 'Lanteans weren't the
feared presence they were now.
"He said he had someone who wanted to meet us," Elizabeth said. She glanced at
Teyla, who nodded. "He knows us well enough to know what kind of people we're
interested in talking to."
Ever since Lorne's attempted coup, Teyla had worked more closely with
Elizabeth, keeping an eye on her for John. He hated to admit it, but they still
needed Elizabeth's negotiating skills as well as her PR ability. And of course,
if they got rid of her, Earth would simply replace her with someone else, and
John wasn't quite ready to break from Earth.
Not without a lot more planning, at least.
"Okay, we'll meet him. I'll take Freemantle with a second jumper as back up."
Elizabeth nodded and looked down at her tablet. "As you know, we received the
weekly databurst from Earth last night." She glanced over at Jeannie and her
face tightened just a little. "So I assume you also know that there's been an
outbreak of terrorist activity back home."
"If you didn't want me reading the databurst before you get it," Jeannie began,
"you shouldn't have backed...."
"I didn't have a choice!"
"None of this is relevant to the fact that people are strapping on bombs and
blowing themselves up on the Capitol steps," John said. When Elizabeth turned
her frown on him, he shrugged. "It was in the military briefing; I haven't had
a chance to read anything else."
"State Security wants to send some of their more troublesome dissidents here."
John frowned. "Why aren't they just lining them up and shooting them?"
"Some of these people are a little too well connected." Before John could ask
his next question, Elizabeth continued. "They don't want to have them quietly
killed because they might be useful later on."
John shook his head. "I don't buy it. There are plenty of places closer to
home; if they don't actually want them on Earth, there are the sites the SGC
maintains in the Milky Way Galaxy."
"I agree," Elizabeth said. "We know they don't trust us. Clearly, this is their
way of keeping an eye on us."
"Do you think this is this connected to Major Lorne's attempt to replace
Colonel Sheppard?" Teyla asked in a carefully neutral voice.
"I doubt it," Jeannie said and John nodded.
"Back home that was considered an internal shake up; my own loyalty shouldn't
be in question." He looked over at Elizabeth. "Same goes for you, unless you've
done something that makes them think differently?"
"I know you don't trust me and I admit that I haven't given you any reason to
do so, but believe me; I don't like this any more than you do." Elizabeth shook
her head. "No, I think this is just garden variety paranoia. It's the usual
dilemma they have with us. They need us here to guard the gate to Earth,
but...."
She was right and John finished the sentence for her. "They don't like having
us hanging around the backdoor with guns." He sighed. "We still have to decide
what to do with the spies...oh, sorry, terrorists they're sending us."
"Send 'em to the mainland," Ronon said. "Let the snakes take care of them."
"I'm not sure that's a good idea," Jeannie said. "They wouldn't be sending them
to us if they just wanted them dead."
"We need to come up with some work for them to do," John said. "Farming or...."
"What about the abandoned naquadah mine you found on M39-X27," Elizabeth said.
She turned to Jeannie. "Didn't you say it was mostly automated?"
"Yeah. We'll need to get some engineers on it and it'll need a supervisor." She
frowned and looked at John. "Are they sending you more troops to guard these
guys?"
"I assume that's why I'm getting a whole platoon of Marines." He still wasn't
quite sure what to make of that, but he did know that he didn't like the idea.
At least not entirely.
"Care to be more specific?" Jeannie asked. "How many...."
"In this instance, forty-seven guys." John frowned. He wasn't looking forward
to sorting through that many men, not to mention dealing with the platoon's
officer and senior NCO. "And there might be more on the next Daedalus run."
"We have a week before they send the first prisoners and the Marines through
the wormhole," Elizabeth said. "Can we get the mine operational by then?"
"Maybe," Jeannie said. "I'll need to pull people from other projects, but yeah,
I think we can get it going. There's not much in the way of shelter, though."
"Well," John said with a slight smile. "We'll just have to requisition extra
supplies. A lot of extra supplies." Getting sufficient material from Earth was
a perpetual problem and John was all for milking this situation for as much as
they could.
After the meeting, once John and his team had reached the gear room, John
turned to Jeannie. "Are you going to need to supervise the team working on the
mining equipment?"
"Probably for a few days." She paused and looked thoughtful. "I wonder...I
think we should put Zelenka on it permanently."
"You sure about that?" Ronon asked. "Just because he can't walk without a cane
doesn't mean his brain is damaged. He's dangerous."
John frowned a little, remembering Jeannie's revenge. "An eye for an eye,"
she'd said, and John had pulled his sidearm out and shot Zelenka in the knee.
Unlike Jeannie, who'd benefited from a couple of the Ancient healing devices
they'd found over the years, Zelenka had had to recover the old fashioned way.
Jeannie had made a habit of dropping in and chatting with Keller during
Zelenka's physical therapy.
It had been funny at the time, but thinking about it now, John wasn't so
amused. Zelenka had only disliked and envied Jeannie before the coup; these
days, he actively hated her and didn't bother to hide it.
"Think about it," Jeannie said. "He's so obvious about hating me; everyone
knows he'll be watched like a hawk."
"That is a good point," Teyla said. "If we put Kanaan in charge of the
Athosians working on the project...."
"No," Ronon said. "No one here on Atlantis knows about the two of you. Put
someone else in charge of them and just put him on one of the work crews. He
can spy for us."
"I like it," John said. "I take it you can stand to have him stuck there?"
"Of course," Teyla said.
"Speaking of people's boyfriends," Jeannie began and John rolled his eyes. "I
want Mer to do some digging in the database for information about the mines. I
hate to say it, but he's turned out to do better with it than anyone, even
Elizabeth."
John shrugged. "Okay." There were, he thought sourly, disadvantages to sleeping
with Jeannie's brother.
                                     * * *
They'd chosen P39-569, one of their usual meeting sites, to meet with Elthrin.
Ronon had spent some time here as a Runner and while John knew he didn't like
the bare, windswept, rocky terrain that housed the gate, it was a good site
with plenty of room to park a cloaked jumper.
Freemantle settled into the pilot's chair once John left it and John nodded to
him. "You know the drill, Lieutenant. I'll keep my hand near the panic button,
but if we look to be in trouble or you see new blips on the HUD, use your own
judgment."
"Yes, sir."
"Sorry, buddy," John said to Ronon as they left the jumper.
"No big deal," Ronon said with a shrug.
They didn't have that long a wait; ten minutes after they'd arrived the gate
activated and Elthrin and another man walked through. They looked to be alone,
but John waited until Jeannie checked her life signs detector before he stepped
forward.
As they got closer, John felt himself tense up a little. Elthrin's companion
was wearing familiar looking leathers.
"This is Marrik," Elthrin said. "He's...."
"Traveler?" John asked, his hands resting on his P-90.
"Yes," Marrik said with a little bow. He looked nervous. "I'm the First Officer
of the Beltarin. I assure you, we only had limited contact with Larrin's ship."
"Really?"
"Believe me, Colonel Sheppard, there were plenty of us who were pleased and
relieved when you took care of her and her ship."
He sounded sincere and John nodded. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see
Ronon and Teyla relax. Jeannie had a slight smirk on her face; she'd been far
more amused after his capture than John liked.
"Really?" When Marrik nodded, John continued. "Okay, what did you want to see
us about?"
"Elthrin tells me you're looking to pick up some of our guns. Like Specialist
Dex carries," he added, gesturing toward Ronon's gun.
John glanced at Teyla, who stepped forward with a slight smile on her face.
"You are correct, although now that we have a growing stock of Wraith weapons
our need is not so urgent. " She spread her hands. "So, let us talk."
"We're having problems with the power distribution on our ship." Merrik glanced
over at Jeannie, who was suddenly frowning.
John, who'd expected to be bored out of his mind while Teyla arranged a trade
of fresh vegetables or medicine for a few guns, shook his head. "You want McKay
to fix something? That's not something we do for just anyone; most people in
this galaxy can't afford her services."
"I understand, Colonel." Merrik took a deep breath. "We can give you a case of
one hundred energy pistols and the location of a derelict ship. An derelict
Ancient ship."
Glad he'd left his sunglasses on, John nodded. "We might be interested." He was
more than interested, but several years in Pegasus had given him even better
bargaining skills than the ones he'd developed in the bazaars of the Middle
East.
"I'll need to know what kind of work you're talking about here," Jeannie said.
"Do you have details of the problem or have your engineers run diagnostics?"
Merrik reached slowly into the satchel he was carrying and pulled something
that looked like an e-book reader. "Our Chief Engineer has put everything he
knows about the problem on this."
Jeannie looked at her scanner before tucking it into her tac-vest and taking
the reader. "Huh...weird notation...what are you...oh, okay."
She continued muttering to herself in the same vein for a couple of minutes and
then finally looked up. "It's going to take me an hour or two to come up with a
time and materials estimate."
"Perhaps we can arrange another meeting," Teyla said.
John wanted to grab Merrik and take him back to Atlantis and sweat the location
of the derelict ship out of him, but while he was pretty sure they could get
the information, he knew the game wasn't played that way. Teyla had worked hard
to make sure that the 'Lanteans had a good reputation as tough but honest
traders, and John really didn't want to mess with that.
It took another few minutes to set up a second meeting, and then Merrik nodded
and headed for the gate.
"So," John said to Elthrin after the gate disengaged. "What can you tell me
about him? And his ship."
"I've traded with them on and off, mostly for fresh food and occasionally,
moltro. "
Ronon raised an eyebrow. "That stuff's kind of dangerous. How much are they
using?"
"That's not the kind of information I usually share." Elthrin said and John
snorted.
"Yeah, there's nothing like an ethical drug dealer," he said. Moltro was a
stimulant that did some pretty scary things to people's brains. Dr. Biro was
experimenting with refining it into something safer, but so far they didn't use
it on Atlantis. "Gimme a ballpark...um, a vague idea. I don't want to deal with
these people if they're all hopped up on this stuff."
"Not that much," Elthrin said. "I think they use it in emergencies, which,
since their ship is in pretty bad condition, probably happen fairly often."
"Using stimulants in the middle of an emergency?" Jeannie said, not looking up
from the reader. "Imagine that."
Ronon snorted.
"Okay, so...you trust them?" John asked.
Elthrin paused, obviously thinking it over. "I think so. This is a bigger deal
than I've ever made with them, so I can't say for sure."
"We understand," Teyla said. "And, should the deal go through, you will be well
compensated."
                                     * * *
"So," John said an hour later. "That's where we stand." He smiled at Teyla. "I
hope I didn't look too eager. The derelict is likely a piece of junk, but you
never know. And a whole case of the guns...."
"Which, for all we know, may not be working," Jeannie said. She laid the reader
on the conference table and frowned at it. "This is more than just me going
over with a guard and doing a few hours' work, you know."
"For what they're offering, I'm not surprised," Elizabeth said. "How much time
and how many of our people will you need to help you?"
"Roughly 38...maybe as much as 45 hours of my time, and I'll need a couple of
assistants."
"If it's going to take you that long, I'm going to want a look at the derelict
ship," John said. "Or at least a look at her specs to see if she's worth it."
Teyla nodded. "I am sure I can get them to agree to giving us the specs, but
the location of the actual ship? That I doubt."
"Specs will tell me a lot," Jeannie said.
"So, I take it you think we should pursue this?" Elizabeth looked around the
table.
"I'm willing to do the work," Jeannie said. "If you send Ronon over with me, we
can probably pick up a fair amount of intel as well."
"We might be able to add a bit to the pot," Ronon said. "Merrik looked kind of
pale. If he's not on drugs, he might be sick."
"I'm not sure what else they can offer us," John said.
"Maybe an alliance?"
John frowned and Elizabeth sighed. "John, I know you don't like the Travelers,
but they could be useful allies."
"I don't like them because they have ships and we don't."
And because that bitch Larrin caught me when I wasn't looking.
"It's not like we have to tell them where 'Lantea is," Elizabeth said. Leaning
forward, she looked at John seriously. "I'm not saying we have to instantly
jump in bed with them, but we should keep the idea in mind."
Next to Elizabeth, Teyla nodded in agreement.
"Yeah, okay," John said. "Ronon, I'll want an full military assessment."
"Sure."
"Are we done?" Jeannie asked. "Between this and the work on the mining site,
I've got plenty of stuff I need to get working on."
"I'm done," John said and Elizabeth nodded.
"John," she said as he started to stand. "A moment, please?"
He sat back down but shook his head when Ronon looked at him. A moment later,
he and Elizabeth were alone.
"This is what I do," she said. "I negotiated our alliance with the," she
paused. "With the Genii who remained after the storm. And with the Larish as
well."
"Yes, and look where that got us," John said, scowling.
"Colonel...."
And fine, maybe John wasn't being fair. Two weeks after the disastrous mission
to Larish where the Larish Warleader had put her grubby hands all over Rodney,
the Larish had sent her head and a very generous compensation to Atlantis.
Elizabeth had used the incident to their advantage as well; it had become one
more story told about how dangerous it was to go up against the 'Lanteans.
Rodney had gone off world with John twice since then, and he'd been treated
with as much respect as the rest of John's team.
"If you need to send Teyla with me, that's fine."
"No," John said. "I don't want you and Teyla in the same place off world."
"Then maybe Major Jordan or Teldy?"
"I'll think about it."
"Please do."
In spite of her use of the word "please" it sounded more like an order than a
request. John's mouth twisted a little as he pushed his chair back. "Did you
want anything else?" he asked.
"No," she said, sighing.
John's resulting bad mood lasted through lunch. Jeannie had vanished into the
lab and Teyla was busy with something, so it was just John and Ronon.
"You think I'm being too paranoid?" John asked after several moments of
silence. "About the Travelers?"
"No."
"Thanks." John took another bite of his sandwich. "Damnit, Earth really needs
to shake loose a fucking starship for me. Maybe McKay can fix up this ship."
"Which McKay?"
"Either one; I don't really care." He laughed shortly. "It'll sure chap
Jeannie's ass if Rodney's the one who gets it up and running."
"You know how hard that would make my life?"
"You think I care?" John said dryly. But he grinned at Ronon and Ronon grinned
back. "Things okay with her?"
"Yeah." Ronon raised an eyebrow. "You want details?"
"What do you think?"
Smirking just a little, Ronon turned back to his lunch.
===============================================================================
This wasn't the first time Rodney had worn a butt plug. Sheppard liked to make
him wear them while they played chess or worked on math problems, and Rodney
had learned to concentrate in spite of the stimulation.
This is different, he thought as he walked carefully around their quarters,
trying to get used to the pressure of the plug. After about twenty minutes, he
was pretty sure he could go out into public without anyone figuring it out,
partly because he'd gotten pretty damn good at hiding public erections. It
helps that all my old pants are pretty loose these days. Still, he picked one
of his longer, baggier shirts.
By the time he walked down to the range, he was walking normally, if a little
slower than usual. It still felt a little strange to wear a gun at his hip; it
was yet another reminder that his life simply wasn't going as he'd originally
planned. Here he was, living in a war zone on an alien world in a whole
different galaxy-- and the really weird thing was how much he liked it, kinky
sex and all.
"Hey, Rodney," Corporal Baumgarten said as Rodney signed in.
"Hi, Amy," he replied, smiling at her. "Hey, guys," he added and waved to the
room in general.
People waved back or called out his name, and that was odd too. At first, the
Marines had been polite because he was Sheppard's boy, and then freaked out
after the coup attempt because he'd shown that he wasn't to be fucked with. But
over the last few months, most of them had come to treat him like a kid brother
or a dangerous mascot. He'd been a little surprised at first, but now he
actually liked it.
Shooting with a butt plug in place proved to be as complicated as he'd
expected; the constant nagging arousal kept him from concentrating. Over the
months, he'd learned how to drop into a mental space where everything narrowed
down to the gun and the target, but today, he couldn't quite get there.
After emptying several clips, he shook his head and stepped back from the line,
pulling off his ear protection as soon as he could.
"You're kind of off today." Rodney turned to see Staff Sergeant Ruiz giving him
a concerned look.
"Yeah," he said. "Sorry, Sarge. Too much other stuff going on in my brain."
"Are things okay?"
Puzzled, he looked at her until he realized that she was asking about him and
Sheppard, at which point he blinked and tried to come up with something to say.
Did she think Sheppard was going too far and abusing him? That they were
fighting? That...what?
And did she even know what a dangerous question that was? Lorne had never asked
Rodney about his situation with Sheppard, but the thing that had triggered his
ill-advised coup attempt had been his belief that Sheppard was a dangerous
pervert. Which, Rodney had to admit, Sheppard was, but since Rodney--mostly--
liked that about him, it wasn't a problem. Or really, anyone else's business.
Finally, he just had to laugh. "Everything's fine," he said and was relieved at
how natural and sincere he sounded. "I've just got a tricky engineering problem
bouncing around in my head."
There was some truth to that; Rodney usually had at least a couple engineering
problems bouncing around in his head, along with whatever complex math
questions he and Sheppard were playing with and, ever since Sheppard had
allowed him to send away for books and journals, his own, self-assigned physics
homework as well.
Apparently satisfied, Ruiz nodded. "Okay. Take a break and then try again."
"Sure, Sarge."
"You fucking think too much, kid," one of the other Marines said as Rodney sat
down carefully on a bench and checked his clip, trying not to squirm.
"You'll be glad I do when I figure out how to make drone weapons or a ZPM."
"Yeah," a different Marine said. "Don't mess with the boy genius...he'll come
up with a way to fuck you up."
There was a pause, and then someone mentioned the latest Stanley Cup game and
Rodney ducked his head to hide a smug smile as the conversation moved to
hockey. To his surprise at the time, Sheppard hadn't tried to hide that Rodney
had played a huge part in rescuing Sheppard, Ronon and Teyla from Lorne and his
guys. It made sense, in a way; Rodney assumed that Sheppard wanted everyone to
know just how loyal Rodney was. That it garnered more respect for Rodney from
people in the city was just a side benefit and one Sheppard probably hadn't
even considered.
Rodney was back at the line shooting when Sheppard came in. In spite of the
fact that he had his ear protection on, he noticed the change in the room
almost immediately. Normally, he'd have stopped whatever he was doing, but
today, he felt like pushing just a little and so he waited until he'd emptied
his clip before turning and acknowledging Sheppard's presence.
At first, seeing the slight furrowing of Sheppard's brow, Rodney was afraid
he'd misjudged the moment, but then, as Rodney pulled off his ear protection,
Sheppard walked over and looked down range at Rodney's target.
"Not bad," he said and then put a hand on Rodney's shoulder and leaned in to
whisper in his ear. "Under the circumstances."
Rodney smiled just a little and looked up at Sheppard through his eyelashes.
"Under the circumstances, I'm doing damn good," he replied, equally quietly.
"I have plans for you, brat."
"I figured."
Sheppard moved back and folded his arms across his chest. "Well? C'mon."
Rodney signed out as quickly as he could. He could feel cheeks go hot when
Baumgartner winked at him as he handed the clipboard back to her after signing
out.
"What was that about?" Sheppard asked.
"Speculation about our sex life is one of the hottest gossip topics in this
city," Rodney said. "She doesn't know anything, of course," he added quickly
when Sheppard frowned. God, the last thing he wanted to do was get someone who
didn't deserve it in trouble. "It's just...." He shrugged. "We were both
obviously in a hurry. People are going to make assumptions."
They'd reached the transporter and Sheppard pulled Rodney inside but didn't hit
the screen right away. "Yeah? Are you in a hurry for some reason?" He tugged
Rodney in closer and slid a hand down his back and under the waistband of his
pants. "You little whore," he murmured, pressing against the base of the plug.
"Please, Sir," Rodney moaned, squirming as Sheppard continued to play with the
plug. "God, it's been driving me crazy all afternoon."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah. I don't know what's hotter--running around with this up my ass, or
knowing that you wanted me running around with this thing up my ass."
"Flatterer," Sheppard said, but he sounded pleased.
"Just honesty," Rodney replied and then gasped as Sheppard tugged the plug out
a little and pushed it back in hard. "Please...I've been ready for you all
afternoon...."
"Oh no," Sheppard said, finally pulling his hand out of Rodney's pants. "You're
nowhere near ready." He touched the screen and then, once they'd materialized,
grabbed Rodney's upper arm and pulled him down the corridor to their rooms.
Once there, however, Sheppard didn't drag him right to bed as Rodney had
expected and hoped he would. Instead, he let go of Rodney's arm and stepped
back. "Strip."
Rodney obeyed quickly, not making a show of it. Once he was naked, he went down
to his knees into the position Sheppard had taught him, hands behind his back
and legs spread. Sheppard smiled.
"Do you have any idea what you look like?" he asked, giving Rodney a once over.
"Someone who really really wants to get fucked?" It wasn't the right answer,
and Rodney knew it, but Sheppard usually liked to drag the right answer out of
him; Rodney figured that that was the game they were playing now.
"That too," was all Sheppard said, heading toward the footlocker of toys.
Rodney tried not to fidget as he tried to guess what Sheppard had in mind. He'd
used his belt on Rodney a couple of days ago, and Rodney had fresh bruises in
the inside of his arm from just last night. When Sheppard finally turned
around, he had metal in his hands, and Rodney swallowed hard, recognizing the
tight, heavy nipple clamps. Sheppard smiled as he crouched down in front of
Rodney, one hand already reaching toward Rodney's chest.
The clamps hurt going on; Rodney didn't bite back his whimpers as Sheppard
placed them and then let the chain connected to the clamps drop. Through it
all, Sheppard watched him eagerly, all his attention on Rodney's reactions. He
tugged at the chain and then smiled when Rodney muttered, "ow...fuck!"
"Oh yeah," Sheppard said and then reached for the chain again. Rodney braced
for another tug, but instead, Sheppard clipped something to the chain; Rodney
looked down to see a teardrop metal shape he was pretty sure was a fishing
weight. Whatever it was, it added to the pull on the clamps, making them hurt
even more. After a brief moment spent watching Rodney's reaction, Sheppard
clipped another weight to the chain.
"Fuck," Rodney said, a little more breathlessly this time. "Please...don't...it
hurts."
"That's kinda the point," Sheppard said, leaning in to bite and kiss at
Rodney's mouth. "Do you know what you look like?" he asked when he pulled away.
Rodney blinked, not sure if he should push it and be a smart ass, but
fortunately, Sheppard didn't appear to want an answer. He stood, and for a
moment Rodney was sure Sheppard was going to unzip and ask for a blowjob.
Instead, he gestured toward the rarely used second bedroom.
"I want to show you something."
Rodney knew better to get to his feet, but while he was used to crawling, this
was different. Each time he moved he was aware of both the clamps and the plug
and he was so hard that his dick was leaving a wet patch on his lower belly.
It was a little freaky, actually. Sheppard seemed to have a boundless
imagination when it came to kinky sex, and Rodney was still surprised at how he
enjoyed, even wanted, everything Sheppard did to him. Of course that didn't
stop him from wondering, each time Sheppard did something new, if this was
going to be the time that Sheppard pushed him too far.
And, if it was, what he'd do.
Sheppard reached the smaller bedroom long before Rodney did, and now he stood
and watched Rodney. "Kneel up here," he said. "Facing the wall."
Confused, Rodney did just that. Oh he didnotjust tell me to do the kinky
equivalent of standing in the corner, did he?
"Close your eyes."
From what Rodney was able to tell with his eyes closed, Sheppard stepped past
him toward the wall. There was the brief crawling/shivery sensation he always
felt under his skin when Ancient tech was being activated somewhere near, and
then Sheppard stepped back to stand behind him.
"Okay, you can look now."
The wall in front of Rodney was now a full-length mirror and he stared at it,
his eyes wide with shock.
He looked in mirrors about as much as any guy did, and he'd gotten used to the
longer hair and the fact that he had to shave every day. But this....
Rodney had never seen himself the way Sheppard saw him--never seen what he
looked like when he was...when he was like this--and now he stared, watching as
his face went pink and hot.
"So, this morning," Sheppard said, and Rodney looked higher in the mirror to
see Sheppard staring at Rodney's reflection intently. "I found myself wondering
if that whole embarrassment thing you do is real or if it's just something you
think I like seeing."
"Sir, I...."
Sheppard waved away Rodney's protest. "It's okay. I don't mind you doing
something you know I like." He reached down and ran his fingers through
Rodney's hair before tightening them and tugging a little. "I just wanted to
see you really blush."
"I...yes, Sir." There really wasn't anything to say; Sheppard was, as always,
getting what he wanted out of Rodney. It was one thing to know that he liked
what Sheppard did, but it was something else entirely to see himself kneeling,
naked and hard, at Sheppard's feet.
"Go on," Sheppard said after a moment. "Do what you wanted to do this morning."
It took Rodney a moment to figure out what Sheppard wanted and then he almost
refused. Sheppard's hand went even tighter in his hair and he crouched down to
kneel behind Rodney. "Do it," he snapped and it didn't matter that Rodney
really didn't want to see this, didn't want to know this about himself quite
this emphatically; he'd learned not to argue when Sheppard used that tone of
voice.
Trying to tell himself that he was just doing this because he didn't want a
beating that would leave him so sore he had to lie on his stomach to study,
Rodney reached down slowly and wrapped his hand around his dick.
It wasn't easy; each stroke made him move in a way that reminded him of the
clamps or the plug or both. And, of course, he could see himself, watch as he
jerked off, see his face go red. "God," he mumbled. "This is...I...."
"Yeah, that's it," Sheppard said, leaning in to speak right into his ear. "Look
at yourself, slut. Whore."
Something uneasy coiled in Rodney's stomach, something deeper than simple
embarrassment. He wanted to close his eyes, wanted to stop jerking off, and
yet....
"Please," he whispered, not even sure what he was asking for.
"Please what?"
"Please, " Rodney tried again. "Tell me...."
"Tell you what?" Sheppard's voice was low and husky. "Tell you what you already
know? That you're a slut? That you're embarrassed and ashamed and getting off
on it?" His mouth was right against Rodney's ear and Rodney shivered. "I'm
going to hurt you now. Keep your eyes open, watch your face, see what it does
to you."
Rodney expected Sheppard to pull on the chain between the nipple clamps, but
instead, he reached around, slid a hand down Rodney's arm and pinched the
inside of Rodney's elbow hard. Rodney cried out but somehow managed to keep his
eyes open. He looked...different than he'd expected. His mouth was open because
he was panting as he tried to breathe through the pain and while it was obvious
he was hurting, there was something else, something almost hungry about his
expression.
"You like it," Sheppard said. He pinched Rodney again and Rodney watched
himself react. "You like it," Sheppard repeated.
And when Rodney said, "yes I do...oh God, yes...please...please...." he wasn't
just saying it because he knew Sheppard wanted to hear it.
"Please what?"
"Hurt me...fuck me...please!" Rodney had stopped jerking off and now he pressed
back against Sheppard, who pinched him again. "I like it...oh fuck...ow!
You...you made me like it...." He caught the look on Sheppard's face--all smug
pleasure--and wriggled a little. "Please...need it, need you to fuck me like
the slut I am."
"Oh God..." Suddenly Sheppard looked almost as wrecked as Rodney. He planted a
hand on the middle of Rodney's back and pushed and Rodney went down onto his
hands and knees and then onto his elbows as Sheppard pushed his knees further
apart.
Sheppard wasn't gentle when he pulled the plug out, but by now Rodney was
humming with endorphins and need and hardly noticed. "Please," he moaned,
arching his back. "Please...hard, oh god, fuck me hard!"
"Whore," Sheppard growled. He spread Rodney open and shoved in hard, and it was
just what Rodney wanted.
"Yours," he said, pushing back to meet Sheppard's brutal rhythm. "Your
whore...."
"Come for me...go on, do it now." That was another command Rodney had gotten
used to following. As Sheppard bit at his neck, above the collar, Rodney cried
out and came.
"Gonna keep fucking you...make you come again."
"Please...do it hard...make it hurt...please, Sir!"
Not that Rodney really had to worry about Sheppard making it hurt; being fucked
after coming always bordered on painful and it wasn't like Sheppard was going
to slow down. And once Sheppard was really moving, he reached around and
grabbed the chain attached to the clamps, tugging on it hard.
"You like it...."
"Yeah...oh God...I do, I really do."
By the time Rodney was getting close to coming a second time, he'd run out of
words. He stared at the mirror and wasn't even sure he recognized himself; his
mouth was open and...Jesus, was he crying?
"Tell me." Sheppard let go of the chain and reached down to stroke Rodney's
dick roughly. "Tell me what you see."
"You," Rodney managed to say, his voice hoarse. "You fucking me...hurting
me...making me cry...you...."
Pulling back, Sheppard slammed in hard. "Oh fuck...."
"Please...please, it hurts...."
"Good," Sheppard said as he sat back, pulling Rodney with him. "It's about to
hurt a lot more." He waited until Rodney's back was against his chest and then
reached around.
Rodney caught his breath and tried to brace for the pain as he watched
Sheppard's fingers close on one of the clamps. "Don't...please...don't!"
Sheppard ignored him and opened the first clamp.
It hurt like hell; Rodney arched in Sheppard's arms and yelled loudly. "Fuck,"
Sheppard muttered, thrusting up into Rodney a couple of times before reaching
for the other clamp. "C'mon, boy...scream for me."
Rodney didn't really have a choice; this time, Sheppard just yanked the clamp
off and it felt like he'd taken Rodney's whole nipple with it. Throwing his
head back, Rodney screamed and felt fresh tears run down his cheeks.
"Fuck," Sheppard groaned. "Oh, fuck...bring yourself off. Now!"
Rodney's hand was shaking, but he desperately wanted to come, so he reached
down and started jerking off again. He stared at the mirror and he looked so
strange, so wrecked and undone, that it was almost like looking at someone
else.
"That's what I see," Sheppard said. "That's what you look like...so fucking
gorgeous...and all mine."
"Yours," Rodney choked out. "Yours...please...Sir, please...please let me...."
"Do it!" Sheppard bent his head and bit Rodney on the neck as Rodney gave a
loud cry and came so hard he barely noticed Sheppard thrusting into him once
more before he came as well, his teeth sharp on Rodney's neck.
"So," Sheppard said after a long moment of silence broken only by their harsh
breathing. "It is still possible to embarrass you." He ran his thumb idly over
one of Rodney's sore nipples and smiled when Rodney gasped and shivered. "Of
course I should have known you'd go for humiliation."
"It was...it wasn't easy," Rodney said, biting his lip and looking away from
the mirror.
"Nothing worthwhile is," Sheppard said quietly, his arms going tight around
Rodney for a long moment.
When he spoke again, his voice was brisk. "C'mon, we both need a shower."
After the shower, Sheppard had Rodney radio down to the kitchen for dinner.
"So," he said, after they were seated at his desk, trays in front of them.
"Some things have come up...."
All of Sheppard's news was interesting, but Rodney couldn't help thinking about
the prospect of a spaceship to work on, even if it was derelict.
"Do you really think there's a chance the deal will work out?" he asked and
Sheppard laughed.
"You know, I should be worried about these dissidents and rebels Earth wants to
dump on us," Sheppard said, with a smile that made him look a lot younger. "But
yeah, I keep thinking that however much work Jeannie has to do, it's worth it
to get a spaceship."
"Think they'd give us a working one in trade for her?"
That got a laugh out of Sheppard and he shook his head. "Yeah, not so much.
Which reminds me, she wants you to do some digging through the Ancient
database; says you're better at it than anyone else, even Elizabeth."
Rodney kind of wished Jeannie would say that to his face, but, in spite of the
fact that they'd managed to be civil to one another since the coup attempt,
random praise just wasn't Jeannie's style.
"What am I looking for? I can't imagine there will be anything about the
Traveler's ships in there."
"No, this is about the mining facility on M39-X27."
"Oh, well, that's no fun."
"Yeah, sorry, but that's the priority." Sheppard paused. "I'll tell you what:
once we have our hands on those guns and that ship? I'll make sure you're
involved somehow."
"Really? Cool!" As soon as the words left his mouth, Rodney winced. Way to
sound like you're twelve or something. But Sheppard just laughed.
"That thing you did," Rodney said, much later as they lay in bed. "With the
mirror...it's...."
"It's what?"
"This isn't how my life was supposed to work out," Rodney said, not even sure
why he was telling Sheppard this. "It's still a little weird for me."
"Yeah," Sheppard said after a long pause. "I get that feeling every once in a
while."
"It's not that I don't want to be here," Rodney said. "It's just...."
"Weird."
"Yeah." Rodney settled down and waited until Sheppard's breathing had steadied.
"I do...want to be here, John."
Sheppard's breath missed a beat and then resumed a slow, easy rhythm and Rodney
smiled to himself before settling into sleep. He hardly ever used Sheppard's
first name, mostly because he didn't want to get too used to it and slip up in
public, but also because there were times he wanted Sheppard--John--to know
that he was being sincere.
Whether Sheppard got it or not.... Rodney had no way of knowing.
                                     * * *
The next morning, Rodney picked out his old, soft "I'm With Genius" t-shirt,
and pulled it on carefully. It was loose, but still, every time he moved, it
brushed against his nipples. Sheppard reached out to run a finger over the
front of Rodney's t-shirt and then laughed when Rodney squirmed.
By the time Rodney, with Namin behind him, came into the lab, he was getting
really tired of the distraction. Dr. Mullins took one look at him and held out
a cup of coffee.
"Thanks," he said. "We've got some real work to do, or at least I do."
"Oh?"
"Yeah, there's an semi-automated mine on...." He frowned as he tried to
remember the right gate address. "M39-X27. You know, we really need to name
these places." Walking up to a half-clean white board, he scribbled M39-X27 -
- Bespin.
"Apparently we're about to have some political prisoners dumped on us, which,
by the way, isn't common knowledge yet, so officially neither of you know
anything about it. But, Dr. Weir and Colonel Sheppard want to put them
someplace where they can be useful. So I'm supposed to go digging through the
database looking for information on it."
"Well," Mullins said. "If anyone can find anything, it'll be you."
Rodney grinned. "I'm glad someone around here has confidence in my abilities,
but yeah, I hope so.."
At least, he thought as he sat down and his shirt rubbed against his chest, he
didn't beat me last night.
===============================================================================
Two days after their first meeting, John and his team met with Elthrin and
Marrik again.
"It will take Dr. McKay and two assistants roughly 45 of your hours to repair
your power distribution problem," Teyla said to Marrik. "Dr. McKay will be
accompanied by guards and will work for no more 10 hours a day. She and her
people will not remain on your ship to sleep and they will bring their own
rations."
She paused. "I apologize if this seems extreme; however, we have learned to be
cautious."
"Dr. McKay's abilities are well known," Marrik said. "I understand your
concerns."
John hid a smile. It was true that Jeannie's talents were known through most of
the Pegasus galaxy, but, more importantly, most of the galaxy also knew the
extent the 'Lanteans would go to punish anyone who tried to keep her after
she'd finished the agreed upon work.
"In return, we will expect the case of weapons you promised as well as the
location of the derelict ship. And we would like to see any information you
have on the derelict before we conclude this bargain."
Once again Marrik handed over a reader. "I figured you'd want to see what you
were getting," he said.
John smiled tightly at him as he took it. "Glad to see you anticipated us. Now,
we know your power situation is pretty bad; McKay says you can't use your
hyperdrive?"
"No, unfortunately."
John sighed. The timing for this could have been better. "All right," he said.
"Give us a few minutes to go over this and then we'll set up a schedule."
"Well, this is a mess," Jeannie said after a few moments spent looking at the
specs for the derelict ship. "Hyperdrive's fried, life support is shot, it
looks like it's taken quite a few hits...."
She shook her head. "This isn't a matter of me and a couple people doing a few
weeks work and then you'll have a working spaceship. This is going to take
time. A lot of time."
"I expected as much," John said. "Is it worth your time?"
"Long term...probably."
"Plus the intel," Ronon said.
"Okay, let's get it over with then, okay?" John said. "We'll stick to the
schedule you came up with. Teyla, tell him we can start day after tomorrow."
It was going to be complicated, not having Jeannie to ride herd on her
scientists, he thought later as he flew the puddlejumper back to Atlantis. The
initial work on the mining settlement had begun, although right now it was
mostly Marines and Athosians building shelters. Rodney had dug up a information
about the original mine in the database and was pretty confident that he could
write what he called a "quick and dirty tech manual."
None of this needed Jeannie, but still, unsupervised scientists made John
nervous. Dr. Simpson was good and she'd been loyal to Jeannie for years now, so
John tried to relax and tell himself everything would be fine.
They returned to Atlantis mid-afternoon and after meeting with Jordan and Teldy
to work out some of the logistics of having an entire platoon of new Marines
descend on them in one afternoon, John made his way to Rodney's lab.
"Bespin?" he asked, looking at the whiteboard.
"What? It needed a name." Rodney looked up from his tablet and smiled a little
sheepishly. "Geek culture, sorry."
"No," John said with a grin. "I like it. I saw Star Wars at least ten times the
first summer it was out."
"Me too," Dr. Mullins said and then ducked her head when John glanced at her.
"Even Namin's seen it," Rodney said. "We took a couple afternoons off about a
month ago and watched it. Sometimes you just have days when the brain needs a
rest."
"Yeah, well," John said and wanted to laugh when Rodney looked worried.
"Just...you know, invite me next time."
Rodney looked surprised for a moment and then just nodded.
"How's the work on the mine going?" John asked.
"Not bad. I think it's going to be like a lot of Ancient stuff; once someone
with the gene initializes it, anyone who knows what they're doing can run it."
He frowned a little and lowered his voice. "Is it true that Jeannie's put
Zelenka in charge of the mining operation?"
"Yeah," John replied equally quietly. "All our rotten eggs in one basket."
"I guess...." He looked down at his tablet. "I'm going to do a rushed tech
manual and then give it to Jeannie, let her hand it over to Zelenka. He really
doesn't like her, but he fucking hates me."
"If he comes near you...."
"He hasn't and I don't think he will. He's afraid of you."
"Damn well should be."
"Like everyone else around here," Rodney said, a faint smile. John reached out
and slid his fingers into Rodney's hair.
"You too?"
Rodney tilted his head a little and opened his mouth and then paused. John
could almost see the moment he decided to be honest. "Sometimes, yeah." He
smiled wryly. "And sometimes I like being afraid of you."
John looked away from Rodney to see both Mullins and Namin looking very
carefully at their tablets. "Okay, you two, time to take a break."
They both left without saying anything and Rodney shook his head once they were
gone. "You're disrupting my staff," he said with a little smirk.
"Your staff?"
"Well, I am the...." He paused and tilted his head. "The Special Science
Advisor to the Military Commander of Atlantis."
"Try saying that five times fast," John said, chuckling just a little. "You
know," he continued a little more seriously. "You really should have a couple
more people."
Rodney blinked. "I was joking," he said.
"I know. But at the point when the CSO is assigning you work and you've got
Namin working on the database...."
"Only because he learned to read Ancient as a kid and he'd be bored out of his
mind otherwise." Rodney shook his head. "And I got lucky with Mullins; she
happened to have pissed Jeannie off at just the right time. At first it was
just that she felt sorry for me and she likes teaching. Now, of course, she
wants to be on the winning side, which these days, pretty much means you.
"But anyway, there's no guarantee that the next person Jeannie assigns to me
won't be loyal to her."
"Jeannie's a member of my team; that kind of means she's on my side."
"Not when it comes to work." Rodney raised his chin. "Let's say I finally
figure out a way to make drone weapons, or even ZPMs. There's nothing to stop
her from stealing my research."
Rodney was right, of course. To a certain extent, all the research done on
Atlantis fell under Jeannie's purview and John knew enough about both academia
and Jeannie to know that she'd be happy to exercise her rights and claim
primary authorship on anything Rodney wrote.
"I understand that," he said. "And I don't blame you for worrying. But there's
a way around that. From what you've said, one of your sticking points is that
you don't have any experience with weapons and weapons systems."
"It slows me down," Rodney admitted. "Mullins is a really good aerospace
engineer; did you know she actually worked on the Prometheus class ships? But
she's never done much with weapons. And I've got a pretty good grounding in
theory, but I look at some of this stuff the Ancients left behind and...." He
spread his hands. "I'm learning as I go."
"I've got a couple Marines with engineering degrees and one of them, Corporal
Phillips, is on limited duty. He caught a lungful of some kind of gas on P04-
397 and though Keller did what she could, even with the medical tech we've
found, he still isn't fit for combat. He's one of the original members of the
expedition and all those guys are loyal."
"Huh...." Rodney frowned a little. "I need to be able...he needs to be able to
work with me."
"Fine, take him on probation."
"Can I ask...." Rodney took a deep breath. "John, he's not a spy, is he?"
John shook his head, obscurely pleased; after all, if he were in Rodney's
place, he'd wonder. "No," he said. "I trust you."
Rodney smiled at that, a broad smile that made him look even younger than he
was. "Okay then...." He leaned forward and kissed John. "So, Colonel. How can I
possibly thank you?"
Reaching out, John took gripped a handful of Rodney's curls and tugged down.
"Why don't you start on your knees and we'll go from there?"
Licking his lips, Rodney went down on his knees. Before John could even issue
an order, Rodney had his pants down and was leaning forward, his mouth open.
When he spoke, John felt each little exhalation as a warm puff of breath across
the head of his dick.
"Hard and fast? Or do you want me to draw it out?"
He'd intended to come in, get a quick blowjob and then head back to his own
office. Now, looking down as Rodney looked up at him, his blue eyes wide, John
changed his mind. "Slow," he said. "Take it deep."
"Oh yeah," Rodney murmured. He licked his lips again and then leaned forward,
his hands resting lightly on John's hips.
John bit back a moan and his hands went tight in Rodney's hair as Rodney's
mouth closed around his cock. Rodney went down and then kept going down,
sucking hard, and God, John had had incredibly expensive pros and experienced
members of various military comfort detachments and none of them had ever been
this good. Part of it was that Rodney had spent the last six months learning
just what John liked, but there was also the fact that he clearly loved sucking
cock.
As if answering John's thoughts, Rodney closed his eyes--his thick lashes
fluttering against his cheeks--and moaned around John's dick. He tugged just a
little at John's hips and John thrust in, feeling that perfect moment when
Rodney almost choked before he took John's cock all the way in. "Fuck," John
groaned. "Jesus fuck...."
As much as he wanted to just let go and fuck Rodney's mouth hard, he held back,
letting Rodney set the pace for the most part. Rodney took him to the edge and
then backed off and went sloppy--all wet heat and hot breath and tongue.
Then he did it again and again until John was gritting his teeth and trying to
remember why he'd wanted it slow. He was just about to hold Rodney's head still
and just shove in until he came, when Rodney pulled all the way back.
"Do you want to come in my mouth? Or all over my face?"
"Mouth," John growled. And now he did grab two handfuls of Rodney's hair,
dragging him down hard. Rodney sucked hard and moaned, and that was enough;
John came, locking his knees to keep from falling over.
"Fuck," he gasped when he breathe again. "You give the best fucking head I've
ever had."
"Wow, really?" Rodney's voice was hoarse and John almost got hard again just
listening to him. "Does that mean I get to come?"
"Yeah," John said. "Get up on your feet and come here."
As Rodney got to his feet, John buttoned up his pants and then leaned against
one of the lab counters. Hooking an arm around Rodney's waist, he turned him
until Rodney's back was up against John's chest. He reached down and undid
Rodney's baggy khakis and then licked his palm and gripped Rodney's dick hard.
"Work for it," he said. "Move your hips for me, boy."
"Oh God," Rodney moaned, shoving into John's hand. "Fuck...'m close...."
"Just from sucking me off?"
"Yeah...oh, hell yeah." Rodney leaned back closer, his head falling back
against John's shoulder. He tilted his neck and John could see the bite mark
from a few nights ago, just below the line of Rodney's collar. "Please," Rodney
moaned. "Hurt me...bite me, please?"
So fucking perfect, John thought as he bent his head and bit down on the
bruise. "Come when you want to," he mumbled around Rodney's skin and then bit
even harder. Rodney cried out hoarsely and his body shuddered in John's arms as
he shoved into John's fist one more time and then came.
When John brought his wet, sticky hand up to Rodney's mouth, Rodney gave a soft
little moan and licked his fingers clean.
===============================================================================
Rodney was standing on one of the balconies overlooking the gate room when the
new Marines brought the first batch of prisoners through. He didn't have any
real reason to be there, but then again, he didn't have any reason not to be,
and these days he went wherever he liked.
"God, all these new people," he said to Namin. "It's weird; before I came here,
forty five people wasn't a that big a crowd."
"It's closer to seventy people with the prisoners."
"True, but still, that's not a lot of people. There were more people than that
at Jeannie's wedding."
"Dr. McKay was married?" Namin's voice was low but Rodney still looked around.
"Yeah, he died...long story. I'll tell you the whole thing some day."
The prisoners were being sent through in groups of five. A large storeroom had
been converted into a temporary holding pen and Atlantis' own security--both
Marines and Athosians--took each group of scared looking civilian prisoners
past a Marine with a scanner and then down the hall to the storeroom. Meanwhile
the new Marines were steered toward the big room Sheppard used when he wanted
to address the entire military contingent.
It was all very efficient, and before more than ten minutes had passed, the
last group of prisoners was coming though.
"Wow," Rodney said. "Someone down there has some bright hair...." His voice
trailed off as the person with the red hair looked around; Rodney leaned in for
a closer look.
The red-head was a boy, maybe Rodney's age or a year older. It was hard to tell
because he was fine-boned and pretty, almost but not quite feminine. "Son of a
bitch," Rodney muttered, instinctively looking around for Sheppard.
"Do you know him?" Namin asked.
"I don't need to; I know why he's here." Rodney frowned and gestured, trying to
forestall any more questions.
A moment later, he saw Sheppard move forward, glancing over the lest group of
prisoners. There was a pause when he saw the red haired kid and then he looked
up at Rodney. Anyone who didn't know him would have thought he was
disinterested, but Rodney could see the anger in his body language.
"They're idiots," he said softly, knowing Sheppard could read lips.
Sheppard nodded tightly and jerked his head at the Marine in charge of that
particular group.
"Well...what are you waiting for?" he snapped, loud enough that Rodney heard
him. "Get these people out of the way and where they belong; we've got supplies
coming through."
"I've seen enough," Rodney said. "C'mon."
He didn't head for the lab though; he was too angry to concentrate, and so he
wandered down a couple of floors and headed out to one of the rarely used
balconies.
"Why was the Colonel so angry?"
So Namin had seen it too. Rodney sighed with relief and then reached into a
pocket and pulled out the small scanner Sheppard had given him. He checked it,
but no, no one was using a listening device or accessing the city's security
system at this particular point.
"Once, when I hadn't been here that long...um, this is totally confidential, by
the way."
Namin nodded. "Of course."
"Colonel Sheppard once asked me if anyone had said anything about him to me.
Before I got here, I mean. He wanted to know if someone had told me how to act,
if I'd been told to pretend to like certain things...."
Namin nodded. "So the red-head...you think someone sent him deliberately?"
"Yeah, and whoever did it really is an idiot. How stupid do they think the
Colonel is?" Rodney frowned and looked out over the ocean.
"Rodney?" Namin said, after a pause.
"I'm fine," Rodney said, almost angrily. "I just...this is stupid. I'm fine."
His radio hummed. "Rodney?"
"Colonel?"
"My office. Now."
"Yes, Sir."
Rodney walked as fast as he could, letting Namin follow him. Right now the last
thing he needed was Namin's sympathy, as much as it was nice to have someone
who gave a damn about him. But he had to calm down; he had a feeling Sheppard
was going to be angry enough for both of them.
Sheppard's door slid open, but Rodney still tapped on the door jamb. "Sir?"
"C'mon in."
Namin, his face carefully blank, took the spot outside the door opposite
Sheppard's Marine guard, and Rodney stepped into the office. He was at a
distinct disadvantage here; he rarely spent time in Sheppard's office, and when
he was here, he was usually face down over the desk or on his knees. Now he
wasn't sure what to do, and so he just stood in front of Sheppard's desk, his
hands behind his back.
"Sir?"
"Oh, for fuck's sake, sit down."
Rodney settled into a chair and took a deep breath. "He's very pretty."
"Jealous?"
"Well, yeah," Rodney said. "His mouth doesn't do this thing...." He trailed off
and gestured to his own mouth.
"Are you fishing for a compliment?"
"No." Rodney frowned.
It wasn't the right thing to do; Sheppard scowled back and Rodney hid a sigh.
This was familiar; Sheppard would get pissed off and then he'd need an outlet
and so he'd push it all on Rodney. It was all he could do to not rub the bridge
of his nose where there was just the faintest bump from the break.
"If I want to fuck him," Sheppard said, watching Rodney closely, "I will."
"You think I don't know that?" Rodney said, wondering if he sounded as
surprised as he felt. "I couldn't care less about that. I know that you're
smart enough not to trust him, which is all that really matters."
"You're lying," Sheppard said, but he sounded a little less angry.
"No, not lying. More trying to convince myself." Rodney sighed. "What am I
supposed to say? Of course I'd rather you fuck me than anyone else, but I'm not
stupid. We're not...you're not like that." He spread his hands in a helpless
gesture. "Do I like the idea of competing for your attention with some pretty
little boy from Earth? Of course not; I'd much rather push him off a fucking
balcony or shoot him.
"But it's not up to me."
Sheppard leaned back in his chair and looked at Rodney for a long moment before
laughing. It was his real laugh, the one that sounded kind of ridiculous.
"I'd pay good money to see you do that; in fact, if we have to get rid of him,
I'll let you do it." Still smiling, Sheppard crooked a finger at Rodney. "You
better have your lube handy."
"Always, Sir," Rodney said. As he dug in his pocket, he had a sudden thought.
Putting the lube on the desk, he went to his knees and unbuckled his belt,
glancing up at Sheppard.
"Please?" he said, already thinking about how the belt would feel on his ass.
"Please?"
"Oh?" Sheppard raised an eyebrow. "What brings this on?"
"Stress release?" Rodney bit his lip and ducked his head. "Um," he added. "For
both of us?"
There was a silence and Rodney was afraid he'd pushed it, but when he glanced
up at Sheppard, Sheppard looked surprised. "Really? It does that for you too?"
Rodney nodded and pulled his belt off. "Please?"
As Sheppard held out his hand, Rodney finally relaxed just a little. This he
could handle, this he could deal with. And, he thought as he dropped to his
hands and knees and put the belt in his mouth, it wasn't as if he'd lied to
Sheppard; somewhere along the line, he'd discovered that pain actually served
to relax him. It was weird, but since it also made him sharper mentally, he
didn't care.
Sheppard took the belt from him and Rodney relaxed just a little more. For now,
at least, everything was fine.
===============================================================================
The morning after the prisoners arrived, John had just sat down with Teldy and
Jordan to start going over the new platoon's records when Rodney showed up at
his office door. John felt a sudden wave of irritation--was Rodney checking up
on him?
It vanished when Rodney set a tablet down on the desk in front of John and
said, "Colonel, I did some refining of the security system in the big holding
cells." He brought up a map on the tablet. "It's a different system than the
regular cells; I'm not sure what the Ancients used them for, although the
records seem to indicate that there were occasional periods of unrest here in
the city."
It was on the tip of John's tongue to call Rodney a good boy, but he bit the
words back. "Good work, Rodney," he said instead. "Thanks."
"No problem, Colonel." Rodney nodded to Jordan and Teldy as he left. "Majors."
"Well," John said when the door closed. "This will help a lot. Let's set the
prisoners up and then start in on the new guys."
"Sir," Teldy said. "I was about to tell you--I knew Sergeant Sanders back at
the SGC. He's pretty solid; I never heard of him playing the political game."
"That's something," John said. "Do you trust him?"
She paused. "I don't know him well enough to say. He's a good Marine, but if
someone convinced him that you're not loyal, he might do what he would thought
was the right thing."
"That's something." John glanced at his computer screen. "Do either of you know
Lieutenant Morgenstern?"
They both shook their heads and John wasn't surprised; the Lieutenant was
pretty wet behind the ears. John was willing to bet that a month ago, he'd
never even heard of the SGC. "I'm just wondering if he pissed someone off to
get this assignment or if he's here on behalf of whoever sent Lorne."
He'd been sent a case of Booker's, which just happened to be his favorite
bourbon, in the first supply run after Lorne's coup attempt. Along with it had
been a note: Sheppard, wasn't me. O'Neill.
Caldwell had told them that the Apollo had a new commander, but that was the
only information John had about a possible shakeup in the SGC and he had no way
of knowing if Colonel Ellis had been involved in what had happened on Atlantis
or if Colonel Carter had just decided she wanted his ship. He didn't know a lot
about the SGC's politics, but he did know that whatever Carter wanted, Carter
got.
"Goddamnit," he said with a frown. "If they aren't going to help us fight this
fucking war, I wish to hell they'd just leave us alone."
"I hear you, Sir," Jordan said.
"Okay, I'm going to meet with Morgenstern. Teldy, you catch up with Sanders;
see if you can get anything from him and then I want you to start testing the
squads to see who has the gene. Jordan, I want an inventory count on the new
gear as soon as possible."
"I've already got Linder on that, Sir," Jordan said.
"Fine. Keep me posted through the day."
The rest of the day followed along those same lines, nothing but boring
administrivia; meeting with people, dealing with the inevitable paperwork
caused by having this many people dumped on him suddenly.
He was blunt with Morgenstern, a stocky young man, fresh out of college and
officer training and clearly overwhelmed by the situation he now found himself
in.
"About six months ago, with the blessing of someone back on Earth, my XO tried
to kill me and take over. He died after a week of questioning--I'll make sure
you get a copy of the video."
Morgenstern nodded but didn't look surprised.
Smiling tightly, John continued. "Yeah, I figured someone would have told you.
The point is, there's no way I'm going to allow your platoon to remain
together. I'm sorry, but that's just the way it is."
"I understand, Sir."
"Do you?" Before Morgenstern could protest, John continued. "I'm not going to
question your loyalty or that of your men, but I'm not going to count on it
either. You and the rest of them are going to have to earn my trust."
"Yes, Sir."
Later, after he'd given the new guys the standard "welcome to Atlantis, don't
fuck with the following people" talk and had lunch, John settled down in his
office and started going through the prisoner's files.
Alexander Tavish, he read, looking at the picture with the file. Alexander had
long red hair that fell past his shoulders, big green eyes and a spray of
freckles across his cheeks, and in the picture, he looked startled and
confused.
Of course, he was the one surviving member of his resistance cell, and John
wasn't surprised to discover that there weren't any other prisoners from the
British Isles in this particular batch of dissidents.
I know you're smart enough not to trust him, Rodney had said. And while he was
right, what really annoyed John was that someone back on Earth thought he was
stupid enough to trust this kid, or at least to fuck him.
Of course, he'd had no reason to trust Rodney; he'd taken him into his bed just
because Rodney was exactly the kind of boy John had never really allowed
himself to have back on Earth. Really, when you looked at it that way, it
wasn't that much of a stretch to assume he'd want another fair skinned,
slightly frail kid who looked like he was thirteen, at the most.
And John had to admit, he was tempted. The boy was even prettier than Rodney
and he looked innocent and untouched; John was getting hard just thinking of
bruising him.
Just a peek, he told himself, bringing up the security cameras in the holding
cell.
The big cells were much like the smaller ones. There were plenty of benches,
and somewhere along the line, someone had found a stack of thin mattresses. The
prisoners were either sitting on the benches or the mattresses. John knew
they'd been fed around lunch time, and there was a case of plastic water
bottles sitting in a corner.
All the comforts of home, he thought as he scanned the first cell and then the
second. Alexander was in the second, sitting on a mattress with his arms around
his knees, which were pressed up against his chest. He was wearing a plain
black t-shirt and a pair of faded jeans and John frowned when he saw that
someone had already gotten to the kid; there were dark bruises all over what
John could see of his upper arms. Put there, John thought, to make it look like
he resisted arrest. Or to intrigue me.
Someone said something to Alexander and he moved, wincing as the movement
obviously caused him some pain. He looked down at his arm with an expression of
distaste, and John couldn't help remembering the glimpse he'd had of Rodney
once in the infirmary, the way he'd smiled as he pressed a finger over one of
the bruises John had left on him the night before.
Shaking his head, John turned the cell monitor off. He really didn't have the
time or energy to deal with someone who was so obviously a plant, and anyway,
he had someone who knew exactly what he liked to the point of being able to
anticipate his wishes.
He brought up the platoon's personnel reports and settled in to do some work.
                                     * * *
The next few days were more of the same. Ronon, Jeannie and Freemantle checked
in on a regular basis, and, as expected, Jeannie was utterly disgusted with
what passed for maintenance on a Traveler ship.
"You're not there to fix the whole ship, McKay," John said one afternoon.
"Leave them wanting more help."
"Yeah, yeah, I know," she said, still frowning. "But still, it offends my sense
of order."
"Be strong."
She flipped him off and then moved aside to make room for Ronon.
"These guys aren't much of a threat," Ronon said. "It's all they can do to keep
their ship running and from what we've seen, their weapons systems are a joke."
"How would they be as ground troops?"
"Fucking awful. Most of them never leave their ships." He shook his head. "And
I was right; they're not very healthy."
"Huh...not sure if there's any point allying with them."
"Maybe, maybe not." Ronon shook his head. "There's a lot of fairly cheap help
we could give them; they might not be a bad investment."
"There is that. We'll talk it over later. They treating you guys okay?"
"Yeah, we're good."
"Okay, talk to you tomorrow, then."
The work on the mining equipment on Bespin--the name had been universally
adopted, to John's amusement--was moving along as well. Using the specs Rodney
had dug up out of the Ancient database, Zelenka had been able to power the
equipment with a couple of naquadah generators and had made a lot of progress
bringing the mine online.
John wasn't wild about Zelenka having access to that much power, and he
breathed a lot easier once they were ready to move a contingent of Athosians
and other Pegasus refugees to Bespin. While they'd be working in the mines
along with the prisoners, they'd have the easier jobs and would be getting
paid.
"I will keep a close eye on Zelenka," Kanaan told John, as they stood in the
gateroom late one night. He glanced at Teyla and smiled a little. "You have no
idea how much trouble I will be in if something happens."
"Oh, I think I do," John said. As with all of Teyla's relationships, he knew
damn well who wore the pants in this one. "Look, I'll make sure that you get
some time off, both of you."
"I will hold you to that," Teyla said. "In fact...."
"Yeah?"
She and Kanaan exchanged a look. "Later," she said and John wasn't even sure
who she was talking to.
"Um...okay," he said and then turned aside to give them a private moment. Not
very many people on Atlantis knew about Teyla's involvement with Kanaan, and,
fortunately, she was not a very demonstrative person. The traditional forehead
touch she exchanged with Kanaan wasn't any different than the goodbyes between
her and Jeannie when Jeannie left for the Beltarin.
"What was that 'later' thing?" John asked after Kanaan had stepped through the
gate. "Anything I need to know about?"
"I will gladly share the details of my relationship with Kanaan with you if you
wish, John."
"Uh...no, that's okay." John glanced at her and then looked away. "You want to
go grab a snack?"
"That sounds like a good idea." And okay, she was probably laughing at him, but
Teyla was one of the few friends he had; as long as she didn't laugh out loud,
he didn't mind.
Ronon, Jeannie, her engineers, guards and the crews of the two puddlejumpers
they'd been bunking in returned the next morning. "I need a shower and 24 hours
alone," Jeannie said, yawning.
"Soon," John said and she rolled her eyes.
"Here," she said, tossing something at him--one of the readers the Travelers
used. "Coordinates, specs and, as a bonus, I even got some video." She rolled
her eyes and looked over at Elizabeth as John grabbed at the reader. "Can the
meeting wait until tomorrow morning? After I've had a couple showers, some
decent food and some sleep?"
"Of course." Elizabeth smiled. "That will give you some alone time with the
reader, Colonel."
"Thank you," John said as sarcastically as he could manage. Was he really that
obvious?
"Colonel?" Ronon said, as everyone else left the jumper bay.
"Right." John tucked the reader in his pocket and headed with Ronon to the back
of one of the jumpers. There were two plastic cases, one somewhat larger than
the other.
"Twenty-six fully charged," Ronon said, pointing to the smaller case. "And
seventy-four that either aren't charged or are non-functioning for other
reasons."
Nodding--it was exactly what they'd been told they were getting--John opened
the smaller case. "Okay," he said. "We're going to say they gave us a very few
working models. I'll take one and, of course, Jeannie and Teyla will each get
one. And...." He paused and then pulled yet another gun out of the case before
opening the second case and taking a pistol from it as well.
"I think Rodney should have one of each."
"Yeah, I was going to suggest you give him one." Ronon said. "What about the
rest of them?"
Pausing, John headed over to the door and the security panel next to it. A few
touches to the controls and he'd turned off the jumper bay's security feed. "No
one knows about this, but I've been meaning to tell you...."
He headed toward a section of the wall that looked like any other wall panel
and touched a decorative design that was just a little different than all the
others. The wall panel slid open to reveal a smallish storage closet.
"I found this back during our first week here. Memorize that pattern; it'll
work even though the gene therapy didn't take with you."
Ronon took a good hard look at the pattern John had touched and then glanced
into the closet, taking in the stock of weapons and the packs--a regular back
pack and a larger duffel. "Why don't you have this stuff on a jumper?"
"Who says I don't?" John grinned tightly. "But I've only stocked a couple and I
can't count on them being available."
"Makes sense."
"Yeah, I think the thing with Lorne proved that it's not paranoia if people
really are out to get you."
There was room in the closet for both crates of guns, and once they'd stowed
them, John reached into the duffle bag and pulled out a tablet. Connecting it
to the door panel inside the closet, he keyed in a couple commands and grinned
up at Ronon. "Okay, I've keyed it for you," he said, stowing the tablet again.
The door slid closed as John stepped back and he gestured toward the pattern on
the wall. "Okay, it's short, short, long, short, short."
Ronon tested it and the door opened. He let it close again and then looked at
John. "Thanks," he said, bowing his head a little.
John reached out and gripped his shoulder and then headed toward the panel by
the bay doors. After turning the security cameras back on he reached into his
pocket and held up the reader.
"And now? I've got some porn to watch."
The door to his quarters had just closed behind John when they opened again. "I
heard that Jeannie was back," Rodney said. "Is that the information on the
ship?"
He looked as eager as John felt and John couldn't help smiling at him. "Yeah. I
was about to look it over."
Rodney pulled his shirt off on the way over to the desk and then kicked off his
shoes. By the time John had figured out how to hook the reader up to the big
computer screen they used for games and movies, Rodney had stripped down to
this boxers and pulled a bottle of water out of the mini-fridge. "You want a
beer?"
"Nah, I think this calls for some of the general's bourbon."
Rodney made a face, but reached for a glass and poured a couple of fingers of
the Booker's. "Better you than me," he said, settling down next to John and
handing him the glass.
The Travelers called the ship the Y Riltar and Jeannie had been right; it was a
wreck. "Jesus," Rodney said, "who the hell hit them?"
"Either the Replicators or another Traveler ship; that's not a Wraith weapon."
Freemantle had done a pretty thorough flyby, but it was almost more frustrating
than not having anything.
Still, they watched it twice, pausing in several places during their second
viewing. "Can we even fly it here?" Rodney asked, as John tried to enhance the
view of the engines.
"I doubt it." John scowled. "I hate to ask Caldwell for a tow...."
"Do Traveler ships have tractor beams?"
"Depends on the ship," John said. "But I really don't want them to tow it
here...."
"Well, no," Rodney said. "Somewhere with a space gate we can control?" He
frowned. "Can you bring up the specs?"
"I'm sure you can do it faster." John handed over the reader and Rodney fiddled
with it for a moment and then stared at a set of what looked like engine
specifications. "If it's okay with you, I'll have Mullins look this over. See
if we can at least land it. Maybe somewhere like...." He frowned. "The Gamma
site has a space gate, right? It'll be a lot easier for us to work on if we
don't have to suit up."
"Us?" John asked, hiding a smile.
"Well, Jeannie's sure as hell not going to want to work on it; this is all
grunt work and apparently she was bitching plenty about having to work on the
Beltarin."
"Really?" John hadn't known that, but he wasn't surprised.
"Yeah."
Rodney put his bottle down and dipped his head, looking up at John through his
eyelashes. "How can I possibly convince you to let me work on the ship,
Colonel?"
"Little whore," John said.
"Would you like that?" Rodney asked and John blinked.
"Like to treat me like a whore? Like some boy you picked up to use for an
evening?" He gave John a hard, slightly bored look.
"So, Mister, what do you like?"
"Get naked and get on the bed," John said, standing up. Oh yeah, he could play
this game. As he headed toward his dresser, he added, "and you better be ready
for me."
By the time he had what he wanted and turned back to the bed, Rodney had two
fingers up his ass. He still looked a little bored and distant and John could
easily see him as some street kid, selling himself because he had nowhere else
to go. Given what had happened to his parents, he might have actually ended up
on the streets if the SGC hadn't grabbed him.
Grabbing Rodney's arm, he pushed him over onto his stomach and slapped his ass
a couple times. "Bruises are extra," Rodney said flatly.
"Fine," John said. He undid his pants, shoving them and his shorts out of the
way before, putting his hand on Rodney's ass and spreading him open. Usually he
liked opening Rodney up slowly, liked getting him to the point where he
squirmed and moaned and begged, but now he just lined his dick up and pushed in
hard.
Rodney brought his arm up onto the pillow and muffled a grunt with his forearm.
"C'mon, I'm paying good money for this," John said. "Put your back into it."
Almost immediately, Rodney began to move with him, matching his rhythm. He was
gasping softly, still trying to silence himself against his arm, and John
grinned; even when Rodney tried to pretend otherwise, he loved getting fucked.
And while John would normally hold back until Rodney gave it up and came for
him, this time he decided that if Rodney wanted to be treated like a whore,
John would oblige.
He waited, fucking Rodney strong and steady until they were both breathing
hard. Rodney was whimpering into his arm and was probably about to forget the
game when John pulled out. Planting a hand between Rodney's shoulders, John
growled, "stay there," and then grabbed his own dick, stroking it roughly while
he looked down at Rodney's smooth back and shoulders.
"Fucking...whore," he gasped, and came all over Rodney's back. Without saying
anything more, he got off the bed, pulled his pants off and fished his wallet
out of his back pocket. It was strange, pulling it out; when he'd grabbed it
out of his dresser he hadn't even checked to see how much money he had in it.
He always had some, just in case he had to go back to Earth suddenly, and now
he took it all out and tossed it on Rodney's back.
Rodney glared at him and then reached back to collect the now sticky bills.
"Three hundred dollars? I'm flattered," he said and then shook his head.
"Still, I'm not sure it's enough. Maybe you'll let me work on your spaceship to
make up the rest of it, Mister?"
John couldn't help it; he laughed. Rodney's face immediately lost the
disgruntled look, and he put the money on his nightstand and then grabbed one
of the hand towels he kept under his side of the bed.
"Roll over," John said, after Rodney had cleaned up his back and ass. He wasn't
surprised to see that Rodney was still hard. "You liked that, didn't you?"
"I liked you fucking me," Rodney said, rather matter-of-factly for someone with
an erection. "And you coming on me. The money didn't do anything for me one way
or the other, and I really didn't like pretending to be indifferent."
John sat down on the bed next to him. "I wasn't too wild about that part
either...." He ran a finger along Rodney's dick. "Do something about this," he
said, and before he'd even finished talking, Rodney had reached down and was
jerking off.
"I was looking at your back," John said, reaching out and toying with one of
Rodney's nipple rings. "It's completely without marks right now...I need to do
something about that."
"Yeah?" Rodney looked up at him. "You once said you could make me like a
discipline flogging..." he added breathlessly.
"You want me to use Ruiz's cat on you?"
Rodney shivered. "If you...I don't know...God, John...I wasn't like this
before...didn't want pain this much...."
"Yeah?" John twisted the ring and then leaned in close. "You were made for it,
boy," he said, his voice harsh so Rodney wouldn't guess how much he liked
hearing Rodney use his name. "I just got to you first."
"Only you...oh fuck, please...please?"
"Do it," John said with another hard twist. "Go on...."
Moaning, Rodney closed his eyes and came. "God," he muttered as he sagged back
against the pillow. "Fuck...."
"Yeah," John said. He turned and looked at the screen where the image of the Y
Rilitar still showed. "Hey, Rodney?"
"Sir?" Rodney was mopping off his stomach and chest, but he paused and looked
up at John.
"Two things. One, we need to find out if we can land that thing somewhere. Two,
we'll need to make some time in your schedule for you to work on it."
Rodney smiled at him broadly.
"Oh, and three? We need to come up with a better name for it."
"No Greek mythology. That's Earth's thing," Rodney said. "But I'm not sure
about naming it something like Enterprise or Millennium Falcon." He got up and
headed into the bathroom; John could hear him washing up.
"Oh?" he called out. "I figured you'd want to use one of them."
"Too obvious," Rodney called back. "And besides, it's one thing to take planet
names, but a ship name...."
"Should be something different."
"Yeah," Rodney said, coming back into the room. He paused to take one of his
tablets off the desk and then settled down on the sofa and reached for the
reader. "Do you mind if I download the specs?"
"Go right ahead." John settled on the couch next to Rodney. "Something
different...."
"Yeah. Of course, I haven't a clue, since I don't think we want to name it
after any of my scientific heroes."
Leaning back, John closed his eyes, thinking. "How about the Endeavour?" he
finally said.
"After Cook's ship? Or the one in Rendezvous with Rama?"
"I was thinking of Cook's ship. It was either than or the Golden Hind and
really, that just lends itself to all kinds of bad jokes."
Rodney snorted. "Yeah, no kidding. You want to go with an explorer's ship
instead of...I dunno, naming it after a pilot?"
"Yes," John said.
"Okay, cool," Rodney said, and played around with his tablet a little. "There,
I've renamed it on the specs." He paused. "You know that unless you throw a lot
of resources and more engineers than we have to spare at this, it'll be years
before it flies again?"
"Yeah; we'll be more likely to end up with an actual Prometheus class ship
first."
John shrugged. "We'll just put the Endeavour up on blocks in the front yard."
"Yeah, and drink your classy bourbon out of Mason jars," Rodney said, rolling
his eyes. John reached over and smacked the back of his head and Rodney
laughed.
"Oh hey," he asked, putting the tablet aside. "Did they give us the energy
pistols too?"
"Yeah," John said. "But don't mention it to anyone outside of your lab. I'm
going to say we
got a few working ones and a few non-working ones and leave it at that." Rodney
opened his mouth and before he could say anything, John pointed at his desk.
"I picked one of each for you. Don't carry the working one here on Atlantis
unless circumstances call for it."
Rodney nodded as he got up and John had to hide a smile; while Rodney was
careful as he put the working pistol in his nightstand with his Glock, he
looked a lot more interested in the broken gun.
"Is it just not charged?"
"We don't even know if they charge or not," John said. "Ronon's has never run
out of energy and he's had it for...six, seven years."
"Maybe some kind of crystal?" Rodney frowned as he looked at the pistol. "I may
need break a few of these to figure out how to get them open and put them back
together. There's a seam but no...."
As he turned the pistol over in his hands, his stomach growled. "I am so damn
tired of being hungry all the fucking time." He put the gun down with a scowl.
"Do you know how much time I waste because of this stupid hypoglycemia?"
"It's meatloaf night," John said and then laughed when Rodney perked up. "C'mon
kid, let's go grab dinner."
===============================================================================
Things calmed down for a little while once Jeannie was back and Zelenka was
gone. Apparently Jeannie had come in, yelled at everyone and then settled down
to work on a couple of projects she had going.
"She's hard to work around," Mullins said, "but most everyone would rather have
her in the labs than Zelenka. And really, Simpson...." She made a dismissive
gesture. "She's second-rate at best."
"If Zelenka ever gives you any trouble," Rodney said, "let me know. Of course
with him stuck on Bespin...." He shrugged and she smiled back a little smugly.
"Anyway," he began. He was interrupted by the lab door opening. Expecting
Sheppard, he was a little taken aback when a big blond Marine came into the
lab, looking more than a little nervous.
"Yes?" Rodney said, frowning.
"Um...Colonel Sheppard told me to come down here. I'm Corporal Phillips."
"Oh, right," Rodney said, still a little taken aback. "Well, come in then," he
added, waving Phillips in. "The Colonel told me you have a degree in
engineering?"
"Yes, sir. From UCLA."
Rodney stared at Phillips for a second and then laughed. "Okay, no. The Colonel
is 'sir'; I'm just Rodney." Phillips looked a little skeptical but nodded and
Rodney made the rest of the introductions.
"So...." Rodney paused and then shrugged a little. "Okay, first things first. I
don't know what the Colonel told you, but what we do in here, the stuff we
study, isn't shared with Sciences. Or anyone else. And I mean it; not the other
guys in your squad or anyone in the comfort detachment."
"I understand," Phillips said, and Rodney could almost hear him biting back the
word "sir".
"I hope so, because it's not me you'll have to deal with if there's a security
breach." Phillips looked even more nervous and Rodney decided he'd made his
point. "Okay, so...we're working on two major projects at the moment."
He held up one of the energy pistols. "We have a small supply of these, most of
which don't work. We're trying to reverse engineer them to at least figure out
the power source if not how to actually manufacture them."
"That would be handy."
"To say the least," Rodney said. "That isn't the really secret project, though.
People are going to see the new weapons here and there because we got some
working ones as well. But this...." He tapped a couple of keys on one of the
lab's five computers and the schematics of the Endeavour came up on the screen.
"This is the Endeavour; it's a Traveler ship that's been given to us in
exchange for the repairs we did on another one of their ships. There are less
than twenty people on Atlantis who know about it, and for various reasons,
we're the ones who get to play with it. Right now, we're analyzing what little
data we have."
He smiled tightly at Phillips. "So, pull up a chair and start looking over
these specs and do a write up on the weapons systems."
"Yes...sure."
Rodney turned back to the energy pistol, biting back another laugh.
"So," Rodney said later, as he and Sheppard walked back to their quarters after
dinner. "Phillips came by this afternoon."
"What did you think?"
"I had to work hard not to laugh. I mean, he seems to know his stuff and he was
all but drooling over the Endeavour, but he keeps wanting to call me 'sir.'"
Sheppard seemed more amused than anything. "You don't want someone calling you
'sir'?"
"Good God, no." Rodney shook his head. "That's you."
"Damn right." Sheppard reached out and grabbed Rodney's arm, pulling him the
last few yards to their rooms. "I was thinking," he continued as the door slid
open and he dragged Rodney inside. "We've been so busy, but now we have a
little time...."
Rodney's heart suddenly pounded in his chest. "Are you going to...." he began.
Sheppard interrupted him. "Don't strip all the way, just take your shirt off.
Oh, and your shoes and socks," he said, heading toward the closet.
"Yes, Sir."
The cuffs Sheppard brought over once Rodney had his shirt off were new; they
looked different than anything Sheppard had used on him before and Rodney
swallowed hard. "Suspension cuffs," Sheppard said.
"Suspension...?" Rodney looked around the room a little nervously, but Sheppard
just laughed.
"You're going to love this."
He was, Rodney reflected, probably right. Rodney liked bondage and he liked
pain and, really, he liked almost everything Sheppard had ever done to him. So
he held his hands out and shivered just a little as the cuffs were locked
around his wrists. They were black and each had a small bar he could grip; it
was weird, but he found himself wishing that they were dark red like the rest
of the leather Sheppard used on him.
"See?" Sheppard said, reaching down to press his hand against Rodney's
erection. "Told you you'd love it. You're such a whore."
Rodney licked his lips and glanced up at Sheppard. "Your whore," he said,
giving the correct answer. It worked, as usual. Sheppard bent down to kiss him
hard, biting and sucking at his lower lip until Rodney squirmed up against him,
the fabric of Sheppard's uniform rough against his bare skin.
"Mine," Sheppard said, pulling back to look at Rodney. He reached out and
pinched Rodney's lower lip hard and Rodney moaned as the pain washed over him.
"Please," he said and Sheppard laughed a little.
"You don't even know what you're asking for," he said, grabbing one of Rodney's
wrists and pulling him toward the middle of the room. Reaching up, he grabbed a
chain that hung down from the ceiling; Rodney had never seen it before. "Don't
worry," Sheppard said. "It's strong enough to hold someone much heavier than
you."
A little startled by the sharp jolt of jealousy that hit him in the stomach,
Rodney just nodded. He hated the thought that other people had been here, had
had Sheppard's attention the way that Rodney did now. Even worse was the idea
that someone--Alexander Tavish, for example--might be here after Rodney or even
some day soon, while Rodney was in the lab or somewhere else.
If Sheppard guessed what Rodney was thinking, he said nothing, although, just
before he clipped Rodney's cuffed wrists to the chain, he smirked just a
little.
Yet another thing I shouldn't find so hot, Rodney thought, tugging at the
cuffs.
"They'll hold," Sheppard said and then reached into his pocket.
"What...?" Rodney began, trailing off as the chain moved, pulling his wrists up
until they were well above his head.
"You look so startled," Sheppard said, tossing what was presumably the remote
that controlled the chain onto his desk. He reached and tugged on one of
Rodney's nipple rings. "Just be glad I'm letting you keep your feet flat on the
floor."
"Oh, believe me," Rodney said, a little breathlessly as he turned, trying to
keep Sheppard in view. "I am."
Sheppard patted him on the cheek and then walked around behind him, running a
hand down Rodney's back. "So smooth," he murmured. "So pale."
"Oh, fuck...Sir, are you...?" Somehow, now that he was fucking chained to the
ceiling, his earlier bravado seemed a little misplaced.
"Clever boy," Sheppard said, stepping away from Rodney for a moment.
When he returned, Rodney felt something rough brushing over his back. "Did you
know that there are only three companies that have contracts to make these?"
Sheppard said as Rodney shivered. "The military has strict standards; there's
only one type of hemp that can be used and it's got to be turned into rope and
then braided in a very particular way. It's all done by hand."
"Really?" Rodney tried to sound sarcastic, but even to himself he sounded more
nervous than anything.
"Really." Sheppard leaned in close and reached over Rodney's shoulder, now
dragging the coarse rope over Rodney's chest and stomach. "One of the first
things you learn in officer's training is how to use one." He paused to nip at
Rodney's shoulder. "I really liked those lessons."
Yeah, I'll just bet you did. It was kind of hot, actually, thinking about
Sheppard, twenty years younger, showing a natural talent for delivering
discipline. Rodney squirmed and pressed back, feeling Sheppard's hard on
through his BDUs.
"Please," he finally said, because okay, fine, he was turned on and he wanted
this.
"Of course, you don't usually get someone asking for it. If that's what you
want?"
"You know it is...please?" Rodney turned his head and looked up at Sheppard.
"Please?"
Sheppard stepped back, dragging the tails of the cat over Rodney's shoulder and
then down his back. "Since you asked so nicely...."
With his hands bound above his head, there wasn't much Rodney could do to brace
for it. Taking a deep breath, he locked his knees and waited.
"Let's start with ten," Sheppard said, his voice going husky. Rodney could
easily imagine Sheppard staring intently at his back; if there was one thing
six months with Sheppard had taught him, it was how much Sheppard needed this.
For all that Rodney had been expecting it, the first blow still startled him.
The whip bit into his skin, each strand and knot thick and solid against his
back. It hurt like fuck; he yelped and stumbled a little. The next was easier,
in a way. He didn't stumble but it still hurt and he cried out, knowing
Sheppard would just hit him harder if he tried to be stoic.
By the time the fifth blow landed, Rodney wouldn't have been able to be stoic
even if he'd wanted to. He was clinging to the grips on the cuffs now, hanging
on while each blow from the cat slammed into his back until he was sure his
skin had split open.
Rodney was so caught up in the pain that he hadn't even noticed he was crying
until Sheppard stopped and stepped in front of him. "Oh, yeah," Sheppard said
as he reached up and cupped Rodney's face in one hand. He ran his thumb across
the trail of tears on one of Rodney's cheeks and then leaned in and kissed
Rodney hard.
"Two more," Sheppard said, sliding his hand down to the front of Rodney's pants
to press against Rodney's dick. "I want two more."
Swallowing hard, Rodney nodded. His back was still on fire and the thought of
two more was almost impossible to bear, but Sheppard wanted it and Rodney...he
wanted it too. He'd come to need taking it as much as Sheppard needed giving
it, and so now he raised his head.
"Please," he said. "Please, John...."
"God," Sheppard muttered, his eyes going dark. "Jesus fucking Christ...." He
moved behind Rodney again and Rodney clung to the grips and grit his teeth.
"One!"
The whip dug in hard and Rodney threw back his head and screamed. He'd barely
had time to recover when Sheppard said, "two!" He let out another scream and
then a softer yelp as Sheppard ran a hand over his back. "Oh, yeah," Sheppard
said, his voice slurred. "Oh, fuck...."
Suddenly Sheppard was in front of him, grabbing at Rodney's fly and fumbling it
open. He shoved Rodney's pants and shorts out of the way and then thumped to
his knees. His chest still heaving and tears still running down his cheeks,
Rodney stared in shock as Sheppard slid his mouth down over Rodney's dick,
sucking hard.
"I'm gonna," he managed to get out, his voice still horse.
"It's okay," Sheppard said. "Go on, boy...give it up." He scraped his teeth
over the shaft of Rodney's dick and Rodney moaned and came hard, letting the
cuffs hold him up as his knees buckled.
The next few minutes were a little confused and Rodney was too gone on
endorphins and the aftermath of one hell of an orgasm to be very helpful as
Sheppard unhooked the cuffs, got him out of his pants and then walked him to
the bed. He was able to concentrate a little as Sheppard shoved a couple of
pillows under him and then slapped the inside of Rodney's thigh.
"Come on, spread for me."
"Mmmmmm...." Rodney spread his legs, humming again as Sheppard slicked him up.
"Oh yeahhhhh...."
"You are so far gone," Sheppard said, his voice still rough.
"I really am," Rodney mumbled. "You gonna fuck me?"
"Yeah." Sheppard pushed in sharp and fast and Rodney had a feeling he wasn't
going to have time to get hard again, let alone have another orgasm.
He was right; his dick was just starting to take an interest again when
Sheppard bent down and rubbed his cheek against Rodney's welted back. The harsh
rasp of his stubble surprised a yelp out of Rodney and Sheppard did it again,
thrust in hard and came with a low grunt.
Normally Rodney was the one to do the cleaning up, but this time, Sheppard
grabbed a towel out of the stack and dealt with it himself.
"Sorry," Rodney mumbled.
"It's okay." Sheppard rested a hand on Rodney's back and Rodney squirmed. "I
didn't break the skin," he said, "but you've got some pretty good welts coming
up."
"Felt like you tore me open," Rodney said, reaching back awkwardly to run his
fingers over what he could reach of his back. It was hot and he could feel the
slightly raised welts but it was dry.
"Never," Sheppard said.
                                     * * *
Once, during a long ago family vacation to California, Rodney had gotten a
sunburn. It was nothing, he decided now, compared to the pain he felt as he got
out of bed the next morning. "Are you sure you didn't break the skin?"
"I didn't," Sheppard said, rolling his eyes. Grabbing Rodney's arm, he dragged
him into the bathroom and arranged the mirrors so Rodney could look at his
back. "Welts," he said, pressing on one and grinning when Rodney squirmed. "And
some deep bruises that will come up in a day or two. You're lucky; you got half
of what the Marines usually get."
"I'm not a Marine."
Sheppard rolled his eyes again and dug in a drawer, pulling out a tube of
cream. "Here, this'll help."
"What is it?"
"Arnica."
The arnica helped, but Rodney still frowned and dug out his trusty "I'm With
Genius" shirt. "Do I have to run this morning?"
"You'll just whine the whole time, won't you?" Sheppard said, reaching for his
shaving soap.
"Well, you know how it is, you find something you're good at...."
"Fine," Sheppard said with a chuckle. "Take today and tomorrow off from
physical training. We give the Marines a couple days off too; at least I'm not
cutting your rations." He lathered up and grabbed his straight razor.
"Seeing as that would make me pass out by lunch time, I appreciate it. You
know, it's not that I don't appreciate the effort you and Ronon and everyone
else goes to, but I'm never going to be much of a soldier."
"You think that's what we're doing?"
"What with the hand to hand and the shooting and everything?" Surprised, Rodney
stared at Sheppard in the mirror. "I just assumed...."
Sheppard turned and looked at Rodney, half of his face still covered with
lather. "We're not stupid, you know; we're not trying to make you into a
soldier. For one thing, you're much more valuable as a scientist."
"Then what?" Rodney began.
"We're trying to turn you into someone who can give orders to soldiers."
Sheppard paused and then added. "Someone whose orders they'll take."
Rodney blinked. "Um...." He shook his head. "Most of your guys think of me as
some kind of...." He almost said pet. "Cute mascot."
"Is that what you think?" Sheppard went back to shaving. "Maybe back when you
were first here, but now? Not so much."
Rodney opened his mouth to argue and then thought of Phillips, doing his best
to be polite. "Huh."
"You said it yourself; there's a lot of speculation as to what goes on in here.
Ruiz is a damn good NCO, but the fact that I borrowed her cat is way too juicy
a bit of gossip. By dinner there will be bets going as to how many strokes I
gave you."
"Too bad I can't get in on some of that action," Rodney said. "I'm almost out
of chocolate."
With a snort, Sheppard rolled his towel and flicked Rodney with it. "You are so
unsubtle."
"It's worth a try."
Sheppard, as it turned out, was wrong about the timing. Rodney sent Phillips to
the mess hall to pick up a mid-morning snack, and when he came back, he seemed
even more subdued than he had the day before.
"Okay," Rodney said, after exchanging an amused glance with Namin. "Here's the
thing. I know it's weird, working with your CO's boy, but you really have to
get used to it or you're going to spend more time blushing than I do."
"Um...."
"It was an even dozen," Rodney said, feeling a little smug as Phillips's eyes
went wide. "Feel free to go to Campbell, but I want part of your winnings."
Phillips face relaxed a little. "Can't," he said. "It'd be inside information."
"Damnit; I really need to find out how to get a piece of that action."
Both Namin and Mullins laughed, and after a moment Phillips did, too.
"Okay, muffin time is over; let's get back to work," Rodney said, hiding a
smiled as he poured himself another cup of coffee and turned back to his
workbench.
In the end, it only took Rodney a day and two energy pistols before he finally
figured out the pistol's power systems. "It's a crystal battery," he said to
Sheppard and Ronon. "It looks like there was a specific tool for opening them
to get the battery out; it's something we can machine easily enough. I'm not
sure if they just replaced the battery or actually charged them."
Ronon picked up one of the crystal batteries and turned it over in his fingers.
"Can you recharge it?"
"I think so," Rodney said. "After all, Jeannie was able to come up with a
rechargeable crystal battery for the laptops. If I can take a look at that set
up, I can probably modify it."
"Good," Sheppard said.
"There's one thing, though. I don't think the Travelers, or at least the ones
on the Beltarin, know how to swap batteries out. I'd say they've found a cache
of weapons somewhere and are going through them."
"What makes you think that?" Sheppard asked.
"Wonder who made the original cache." Ronon said at the same time.
"Like I said, there was a specific tool used to open up the battery
compartment. I'm thinking it was a pretty ubiquitous tool and yet there weren't
any in with the pistols they gave us." He turned to Ronon.
"As for your question: I don't think they're Ancient." He held up a piece of
one of the pistols. "It's not the same design aesthetic at all."
"No, it isn't." Ronon frowned. "But it's not a Wraith or Replicator aesthetic
either."
"Could there be another technologically advanced species out there?" It wasn't
something
Rodney liked to think about, and from the look on Sheppard's face he wasn't all
that wild about it, either. "Do we know where the Travelers come from?"
"Might not be a bad idea to try and find out," Ronon said.
"Yeah," Sheppard said shortly. "Rodney, do you think you can figure out a way
to recharge these crystals?"
"Sure. How fast I do it depends on whether or not Jeannie lets me look at her
specs for the laptop crystal recharger."
"I'll talk to her," Sheppard said.
"No, it's okay. " Rodney put the piece of pistol down. "I'll do it."
                                     * * *
He found Jeannie in the main lab, leaning over Simpson's shoulder to look at
her computer screen. "No, see, if you...."
"Oh right, but...."
They both looked up when he cleared his throat.
"Meredith?" Jeannie said, looking surprised. "What do you want?"
"I've got a question for you," he said, stuffing his hands in his pockets and
then wincing a little as the movement pulled his shirt across his sore back. "I
need a little help with something I'm working on...."
Jeannie looked around the room and everyone ducked their heads and pretended to
work. "All right, c'mon," she said, heading toward a door at the back of the
lab.
He'd never been in her office and was a little surprised at how nice it was.
Sheppard's office was plain and full of utilitarian furniture and no
decoration, but Jeannie's had a heavily carved desk and an ergonomic chair from
Earth, and there was a comfortable looking sofa with embroidered cushions that
looked like Athosian work.
"Nice," he said, looking around.
"I get by," she said. "So, what do you really want?"
"I was serious." Rodney dug into his pocket and held out a couple of the spent
crystals from the energy pistols. "These are from the Traveler's guns. I'm
trying to figure out a way to recharge them and I wondered if I could look at
your work on the laptop crystal rechargers."
She leaned over and took the crystal from his hand and looked at it. "So that's
what powers them?"
"Yeah, and let me tell you, they're a real bitch to open up."
"Why should I share my research with you?"
Rodney had been half-expecting something like this, and he sighed and held out
his hand for the crystal. "You know what? Never mind. I'll just open up one of
the laptop battery rechargers down in my own lab and reverse engineer
something."
She dropped the crystal in his hand. "Don't bother, I'll send you the files."
She leaned back and looked at him. "So, it's all bullshit, isn't it?"
"What?"
"You and John. I mean, of course I know he's fucking you, but your whole act
with the wincing and everything...." She shook her head. "It may work on some
people, but I don't buy it."
"What?" Rodney was sure he looked stupid, but he couldn't help staring at her
in surprise. "I thought that was the whole point of me being here. You gave me
to him!"
"I didn't say that I thought you two were playing pattycakes, but this gossip
going around that he borrowed Ruiz's cat to use on you? Please." She rolled her
eyes. "It might impress the grunts...."
Moving very deliberately, Rodney put the crystal back in his pocket and then
took a deep breath. Reaching for the hem of his t-shirt, he turned around until
his back was to her and then pulled it all the way up, biting his lip as the
fabric dragged over the welts.
After a moment, he let the shirt fall back down and headed for the door without
looking at her.
After the door slid open, he paused. "Was there anything else, Dr. McKay?"
"No," Jeannie replied, her voice as steady and as distant as his. "I'll send
you those files."
"Thank you."
His hands were still clenched when he walked into his lab.
"That fucking bitch," he snarled, turning and kicking one of the whiteboard
stands. The board crashed to the floor and he kicked it again. "Goddamn her...I
should have just let Kaleb take her to one of those damn meetings...should have
let StateSec...." He kicked the whiteboard again, a little startled when it
skittered across the room and slammed against the wall.
"Rodney?"
Rodney turned, his hand raised. Namin squared his jaw but didn't try to duck,
even though Rodney knew damn well Namin could have him on the floor in a matter
of seconds. Lowering his hand, he turned to see Mullins and Phillips staring at
him in surprise.
He turned his back on all of them, staring blindly at one of the other
whiteboards while he tried to get his breathing under control. His eyes were
burning and he realized with a sudden rush of embarrassment that he was close
to tears.
"What the hell did she think...?" he whispered.
"Break time," he heard Mullins say.
"Rodney?" Namin said again after a moment. "They are gone."
"Yeah," Rodney said, his voice sounding weird, even to himself.
"Do you...should I go?"
"God, being a teenager sucks," Rodney finally said, turning around. He stared
at the whiteboard he'd kicked and bent to pick it up. The stand was twisted and
broken and he let the board fall to the ground again. "I just...I don't know. I
feel like an idiot. Like a stupid kid."
"You are not."
"Yeah, I guess...." Rodney looked down at the whiteboard. The calculations and
equations on it didn't even make sense, and he turned and looked at Namin. "You
wanna go down to the gym?"
The small gym set aside for AR-1 was empty, and after getting his Athosian work
out clothes out of his locker, Rodney pulled his shirt off without even
thinking about it. As he kicked his shoes off and reached for the buttons of
his pants, he looked up to find Namin staring at his back.
Instead of looking away, Namin tilted his head. "Do you...how do you...?"
"What do people say?"
"No one thinks...I do not think that you are weak."
"I know that much." Feeling a little foolish, Rodney stripped off his jeans and
pulled on the loose pants, although he left the shirt in the locker.
"Some say that you do not...that you just bear it because it is what the
Colonel likes." Namin sat down and pulled his boots off. "Other people think
you like it."
"And you?"
"I...." Namin ducked his head as he pulled his socks off.
Rodney waited and finally Namin looked up at him. "I got into trouble when I
was young; I have been switched more than once." He took a deep breath. "I do
not understand how anyone could like it, but I believe that you do."
"You know how when you run really far or when you have a really good work out
session? When you really push it hard and everything hurts?" Namin nodded and
Rodney continued. "And then you push past it and all of a sudden you feel
great? That's what it's like."
Namin looked a little skeptical and Rodney laughed shortly. "It's a chemical
thing; I'm sure Dr. Keller could explain it better. It's just...for some people
it's just that, a runner's high. For some people, it's mixed up with sex. I
don't get turned on when I run or work out...."
"Unless Colonel Sheppard is throwing you around."
Rodney laughed. "Fair enough. But I don't exactly get hard every time I stub my
toe. It's just when he...." Rodney shrugged. "So yeah, I like it."
He waited a minute and then looked over at Namin. "Does that...it doesn't freak
you out too much?"
"Rodney...." Namin shook his head. "I do not exactly understand, but, I am," he
paused and then continued solemnly. "I am sworn to protect you."
"I know," Rodney said, remembering how Namin had backed him during the coup
attempt, even when he'd though that Rodney was taking Lorne's offer. And, now
that he thought about it, neither Sheppard nor Teyla had punished Namin for it,
even though Sheppard had to know that Namin had been kind of pissed at him for
the way things went down on Larish.
He reached out and put his hand on Namin's shoulder. "And it means, well, it
means a lot to me."
There was a pause and then Namin grinned up at him. "Anyway, you freak me out
about once a day."
"Oh, you are so gonna pay for that...."
"You can try," Namin said, kicking out and trying to hook his foot around
Rodney's. Rodney twisted out of the way and Namin rushed him.
They'd each brought the other down a few times when the door opened. Rodney
didn't look up--he had Namin pinned down and he didn't want to lose his
advantage.
"Nice," Sheppard said and Namin slapped the ground twice. Rodney moved off him
and looked up at Sheppard, who was grinning. "Who's winning?"
"Sadly, he is," Rodney said. "But only two to three."
"You're getting better." Sheppard moved over to his locker. "Namin? You wanna
give us a minute?"
Namin glanced over at Rodney--and why had Rodney never realized that he always
did that--checked with Rodney before obeying Sheppard? Rodney nodded, and Namin
grabbed his shirt and slipped out the door.
"I went by your lab," Sheppard said as he stripped out of his uniform. "Someone
really tore up a whiteboard stand."
"Well, you know Mullins, she's wild and crazy that way," Rodney said lightly.
Sheppard snorted.
"Okay, fine, I had an angry kid thing that I'm really kind of embarrassed by
and would really not like to talk about, if that's okay with you."
Sheppard paused, naked, and Rodney stared at him. He rarely got a chance to
really look at Sheppard like this and he caught his breath a little. Sheppard
blinked and looked at him. "What?"
"Just...sometimes I can't believe you want me."
Sheppard rolled his eyes and Rodney shook his head. "I know, I know; it sounds
like flattery and we can get back to my little moment in the lab in a minute,
but you're really fucking hot. It just surprises me that you...." He ducked his
head a little.
"If you're trying to appeal to my vanity...."
Rodney opened his mouth to protest and Sheppard suddenly smiled ruefully.
"...it's working."
Still sitting on the floor, Rodney squirmed out of his pants and then went onto
his hands and knees and crawled across the warm floor to kneel at Sheppard's
feet. "Please," he said, sliding his hands up Sheppard's thighs. "I need...let
me?"
Sheppard reached down and ran his fingers through Rodney's hair. "You have a
plan, boy?"
Rodney nodded. "Please, Sir. Just sit down and let me take care of you?"
After a moment's pause, Sheppard nodded and sat down on the padded window seat.
He leaned back against the window, looked at Rodney and smirked. "Well?"
Leaning forward, Rodney slid his mouth down over Sheppard's cock. He was
already half-hard; all it took was a little bit of suction and some tongue work
and Rodney's mouth was full. He was half-afraid Sheppard would take over, and
while Rodney didn't have a problem with the way Sheppard liked to use his
mouth, he did have other plans.
But Sheppard seemed content to lean back and let Rodney do things in his own
time, although he shifted a little when Rodney pressed a couple fingers into
his mouth along with Sheppard's cock. Rodney wanted to laugh; did Sheppard
really think Rodney was going to try to stick...well, anything up his ass?
Once he'd gotten both his fingers and Sheppard's cock good and wet, Rodney
pulled back, knelt up and pressed his fingers up into himself. Sheppard's smirk
came back and he reached for Rodney when Rodney straddled him.
"Is face to face okay? Or do you want me the other way?"
"This is good," Sheppard said, his hands going tight on Rodney's hips. Rodney
reached between them and positioned Sheppard's cock so he could sink down on
it. It burned and Rodney bit his lip, moving slowly. He was surprised that
Sheppard let him set the pace, but while he was sure he'd have new bruises over
the old ones on his hips, Sheppard seemed content to just hold on to him.
It was hard to keep his balance, and finally Rodney had to lean forward and
plant his hands on the wall on either side of Sheppard's face. "God," he moaned
as he found the right angle. "Oh God...."
"You love it, don't you?" Sheppard said, looking up at him. "Love a hard dick,
my hard dick up your ass."
"Yeah," Rodney said. "Fuck...yeah...."
"Greedy little whore," Sheppard said, and Rodney felt that twist deep in his
stomach, the same feeling he'd felt in front of the mirror the other day.
Sheppard must have figured it out, because he smiled up at Rodney. "You came to
me," he continued. "You want it so much you crawled across the floor to get
it."
"Can't...can't help it," Rodney said, and okay, he was pushing it a little, but
Sheppard just gave him an amused look.
"You'd say anything, wouldn't you? Tell me anything to get more dick."
Rodney opened his mouth and then paused, going still with Sheppard's cock
buried deep inside him. "No," he finally said, once he had his breath back.
"I'll play it up, tell you things I know you like to hear. Hell, I like saying
them, but...."
"But?"
"I won't lie about it. If I beg, if I tell you that I need it, that I love it,
it's the truth."
Sheppard slid a hand up Rodney's back, pressing his fingers lightly against the
welts. Rodney squirmed a little, but Sheppard kept going until his fingers were
tangled in Rodney's hair. He twisted his hand and Rodney winced. "And if you
don't love it? If I did something you hated?"
"I'm yours," Rodney said, looking him right in the eye. "I'd grit my teeth or
yell or scream. And I'd get through it."
"And you say we'll never make a soldier out of you."
"I'm not like that. I don't do it for them." Rodney's heart was hammering in
his chest but he said it any way. "I do it for you, John."
Sheppard stared at Rodney and then closed his eyes. "Fuck," he said softly,
almost as if he didn't want Rodney to hear him. "Rodney...I...."
Rodney waited, but Sheppard shook his head a little and then reached back down,
tightening his grip on Rodney's ass. "Hold on," he said, and stood up.
The wall was cool against Rodney's welts, but once Sheppard started fucking him
hard, he could feel each thrust slamming him into the wall. It was brilliant,
and all Rodney could do was wrap his arms around Sheppard's neck, hold on and
take it.
"Yeah," Sheppard grunted. "Fuck you...so hard...."
"Do it...God, do it...please please please...."
"Yeah, come for me."
Rodney was still shuddering through the aftershocks when Sheppard shoved up
into him hard and came.
"So," Sheppard said a few moments later. They were back on the window seat and
Rodney's workout shirt had been sacrificed in the name of clean up. "What
pissed you off so much?"
"Jeannie," Rodney said shortly. When Sheppard raised an eyebrow, Rodney sighed.
"She thinks I play up what you do to me for sympathy."
"You do." Rodney scowled at him but Sheppard just laughed a little. "Oh, come
on, I've seen you do it."
"Okay, fine, but not with Jeannie. And not to the extent she thinks I do."
Sheppard's hand moved across Rodney's back and Rodney shivered. "What did you
tell her?"
"I didn't say anything, just showed her my back. She...well, I didn't really
give her a chance to say much after that."
There was a moment of silence.
"I hate my brother," Sheppard finally said. Rodney waited for more, but
Sheppard just lifted one shoulder in a vague shrug.
"I need her, so don't kill her, okay?"
"I won't," Rodney said. "Tempting as it might be."
At least not until I'm ready to replace her.
===============================================================================
Even John had to admit that when Rodney went after a problem, he really went
after it. Less than a week after he'd started working on the energy pistols, he
not only had a recharger for the batteries, but he'd sketched out and then
manufactured the tool required to pop the battery casing open. John was pretty
sure that, if he put Rodney up to it, Rodney would be able to reverse engineer
the whole pistol fairly quickly.
"There's only one problem," John said to Ronon one morning.
"You don't want to give them to anyone you don't trust."
"Exactly." In spite of the cold, John had steered them out onto the east pier
during their run and now he paused and looked back over the city. "Even more, I
don't want any of them making their way back to Earth."
Ronon looked at him for a long moment. "Sheppard?"
"Yeah?"
"What are your plans?'
"Short term? I pretty much want to stay alive and keep my position here."
"Long term?" Ronon asked.
It took John a moment; Ronon was one of the few people he tried to be honest
with. "I try not to think beyond destroying the Wraith." He paused. "Look, I
trust you more than I trust just about anyone, but I'm a pretty paranoid guy."
"I've noticed." Ronon shrugged. "I know you're not going back to Earth, and
that's enough for me."
He looked up and met Ronon's eyes. "If I die, I want you to make sure that my
ashes are scattered here, that my body doesn't get sent back there."
"If you die, chances are good I'm dead too."
"Ronon."
"I promise."
Without another word, John stretched and headed back toward the city, Ronon at
his back.
                                     * * *
"I need to talk to you," he said, poking his head into Rodney's lab later that
afternoon.
"Quitting time," Rodney said without looking up from his computer. "See you
guys tomorrow."
Once everyone had left, Rodney smiled at John. "And what can I do for you,
Sir?"
"Take a walk with me. Oh, and bring your tablet."
After stopping so Rodney could grab a jacket, they headed out to the southwest
pier. It had been clear and cool all day, but John could see clouds gathering
on the western horizon.
How appropriate, he thought dryly. He led Rodney to a steep metal staircase
that took them down to a ledge under the main pier.
"What's with all the cloak and dagger?"
"I want people to think we're indulging in a little al fresco action," John
said after checking his scanner and life signs detector. He turned and looked
at Rodney. "I need some estimates and some information."
"Okay."
"If I give you the crate of energy pistols, how long will it take you to get
them all charged up?"
"You said there are about seventy-five of them?" John nodded. "As long as
there's nothing wrong with them aside from the batteries, three or four days? I
can put Namin on it."
"Good. That's the easy part. How about reverse engineering them?"
"I've already poked at them a bit," Rodney said, and John couldn't help smiling
at him. "What?"
"I should have known."
"Yeah, well...." Rodney tapped at his tablet for a moment and sighed. "They're
a lot more straightforward than Wraith pistols. Even with the stun setting,
they're still simpler."
John nodded. "I'm hearing a 'but' in there."
"Yeah. The thing is, while I could work up a diagram for one pretty
easily...maybe in a week if I concentrated, actually building one is another
story. In addition to machining the parts, there's the matter of power
crystals." He shrugged. "That's where it gets complicated."
"I was afraid you'd say that."
"Sorry," Rodney said.
"Don't worry about it. How's the drone weapon research going?"
"It's not." John frowned and Rodney's chin went up. "I had to put it aside to
work on the pistols. And before that, you wanted me cataloging the City's
internal defenses. And then there's the Endeavour...." He spread his hands.
"Even with Phillips there are only four of us, and while Namin's a competent
lab tech, he's no engineer."
"Relax," John said. "I think we need to prioritize."
"It'd help if I knew what was going on. I mean, I'll work on anything you want
me to, of course, but I'd be more on track if I knew if the Endeavor is more
important than, say, destroying the Wraith or keeping tabs on the rest of the
Expedition."
Staring out across the ocean, John leaned back against the wall. He knew damn
well that he had to trust someone, that this had to start somewhere, but still,
this was something he didn't even let himself think about most of the time.
Next to him Rodney was unusually still and quiet.
"Let's say I wanted to limit our dependency on Earth."
"Are things getting worse back there?"
"There?" John crossed his arms across his chest. "Not 'home?'"
"Oh, please, tell me you're not really surprised."
"No." And now John smiled at him. "Not at all."
"I'd say forget about alien weapons for the moment," Rodney said after a
moment. "More than anything else, we depend on Earth for ammunition, right?
I've run across a couple of Ancient machining setups, and even modern gunpowder
is easy. With just a couple of even halfway competent engineers and a chemist,
we could be churning out more than enough ammo."
"We need more than bullets to defend the City."
"Huh. You know, you can't really look at the internal defenses without getting
a good idea of the external defenses and weapons systems as well. We still have
all the weapons that were brought in when you made contact with Earth during
the Wraith siege, but I'm thinking that, if you're defending against...." He
paused and looked at John.
"Okay, fine; I'll say it," Rodney continued when John didn't say anything.. "If
we're trying to defend ourselves against the Daedalus or the Apollo, then yeah,
I need to look for drones and other Ancient weapons. And we really need another
ZPM."
"Yeah," John said. "That's a given. Having a working ship of our own would be
good too."
"But we do," Rodney said. When John blinked at him, he ducked his head a
little. "With all due respect, Sir...."
"Out with it."
"Atlantis isn't just a city."
John stared. "Goddamn," he finally said after a long silence. "I...goddamn."
Even as he said it, scenarios were spinning through his mind, each one better
than the one before it. There was only one problem. He knew himself well enough
to know that he wasn't a tactical genius, at least not on the large scale.
"I need to know," he said, more to himself than to Rodney, "if they remember
that too."
"That," Rodney said, "I can't tell you. Although," he added, "aren't the
chances pretty good that there's more than one spy among the prisoners and new
Marines?"
"Oh, I've been assuming there were. But the problem is, low level spies aren't
very useful; they never know anything." He leaned back and looked at the
clouds--they were darker and closer than they had been earlier. "But never mind
that, we still need to find out who the spies are and maybe, if we're lucky,
that first level could be reporting to someone here."
"I would think you wouldn't want that."
"If we know who they report to, then we know who's sifting the information. If
we know what they're sending back and who they're sending it to...." He looked
over at Rodney, a plan suddenly snapping into place. "You know, I think you can
help me out here."
Rodney snorted. "Um...sorry. But really, no one is going to volunteer any
information to me, no matter how pathetic I look."
The more John thought about it, the more he liked his idea. "No, but say you
had reason to dislike someone...and you just happened to get your hands on
them...."
"You're suggesting I question someone?" Rodney, John could tell, still didn't
get it. "Why me?"
"With the person I have in mind? Any number of reasons...jealousy, maybe."
"Him," Rodney said, scowling. "Alexander."
"That's my boy."
Rodney didn't say anything and after a moment, John frowned. "What?"
"You'll have to bring him back here and...I...." Rodney kept his head down.
"What?"
"Nothing. I just...it won't be an act. I'm not saying you can't do what you
like...Jesus, the idea of me telling you...but...I...it won't be an act."
Rodney's knees were tucked up against his chest and now he wrapped his arms
around them. He looked a little lost and a lot young and John, who had always
hated it when people tried to make personal claims on him, wanted him fiercely.
"Give me your belt," he said and Rodney's head snapped up.
"Um...okay. Yes, sir," he added quickly, when John glared at him.
Rodney was clearly expecting to be beaten, but his hand was steady as he pulled
his belt off, went to his knees and handed it over to John.
"Stay there," John said, kneeling behind him. He pulled Rodney's wrists
together behind his back and then wrapped the belt around them. Keeping one
hand on Rodney's shoulder, he pushed him down until Rodney realized what John
wanted and went down on one shoulder, cheek pressed to the metal decking.
"Good boy." John pulled out the lube out of Rodney's pocket before shoving
Rodney's pants and shorts out of the way, but he didn't bother with more than a
cursory slicking of his own dick and Rodney's hole before he pushed in hard.
Rodney moaned and took it easily, his hands twisting a little against the belt.
"Mine," John said, resting one hand on Rodney's wrists as he set up a hard
driving pace. "Aren't you?"
"Yes, Sir," Rodney gasped out. "Yours...God...yours...only you."
Or maybe not, John thought, going still as a sudden idea came to him. Maybe
notjustme.
"Sir?" Rodney craned his neck a little and looked up at John, his brows
furrowed.
"I just had the best idea," John murmured, pressing down on Rodney's hands. But
when Rodney raised an eyebrow, John just laughed and went back to fucking him.
After, when Rodney was curled up next to John, all relaxed and looking just a
little debauched with his head on John's thigh, John played with his collar and
watched as whitecaps started to show against the dark ocean.
"We were never meant to be anything but a research station and dumping ground
for dissidents, failures and people like me and your sister and Elizabeth.
"Dangerous people," he added when Rodney made a questioning noise, "who made
what were considered to be poor decisions. I know for a fact that they told my
father that I'd volunteered for an undercover mission that I might not come
back from."
"Jeannie told me that it was a secret government project and that they were
watching all of her correspondence so even our code would be noticed." Rodney
shrugged a little. "I guess if you'd all vanished without a trace, I'd have
been told there was a safety failure and she'd died."
"Probably."
"What's Dr. Weir's story?"
"She helped Hayes get elected," John said. "In fact, I first met her at a
fundraiser Dad's wife threw back when I was still married and getting invited
to their parties." His hand went tight on Rodney's collar for a moment but
Rodney remained silent.
"I think Elizabeth's here because she knows where too many of the bodies are
buried. Mostly metaphorical, although for all I know she helped bury Kinsey
after he 'disappeared.'" John shrugged. "She's useful enough, I guess."
"Does she...." Rodney paused and twisted so he could look up at John. "Have you
told anyone else?"
John didn't bother pretending he didn't know what Rodney was talking about.
"Ronon asked me what my plans were. I'm pretty sure he has a general idea, but
other than that...no."
"Oh." John watched as Rodney digested that and when he reached up and covered
John's hand on his collar, John didn't move.
"I wonder," Rodney said, a little later. He paused and then took a deep breath.
"Can you do this without Jeannie?"
"Do you think she'll go for it?"
"There's no reason for her not to." Rodney turned his head and looked out over
the water. "Back on Earth, she's got to compete with the scientists at the SGC
as well as the rest of the scientific community. Out here, she's the only
scientist of her caliber in an entire galaxy."
"Selling yourself a bit short, aren't you?"
"Not really. I don't have the years of education and experience she does."
"You could get it if you went back to Earth."
John waited, but Rodney was quiet for a long time. Finally, just as John was
about to say something, Rodney rolled over until he was on his back, his head
still on John's thigh.
"I know you don't always believe what people tell you," he began, looking up at
John.
"Because people are liars," John said, feeling oddly defensive.
"They really are," Rodney agreed. "But the thing is, please believe me when I
say I don't want the same things I wanted when I was back on Earth."
"Because of me." John could hear the skepticism in his voice, but Rodney just
smiled wryly.
"That's certainly part of it," he said. "But...some of it is Atlantis. I'm not
sitting in a classroom somewhere, fighting for attention and lab time and
having all my best ideas stolen by my professors. Maybe I'll never have
initials after my name, but I dunno...I'm doing things here. I don't care about
the rest of it as much as I used to."
"Really."
John knew he sounded distant and he wasn't surprised when Rodney looked almost
insulted.
"Yes, really."
"It's just," John began, staring out at the ocean. "I feel like that. What
happens here is more real, more intense than anything on Earth could ever be."
"More danger," Rodney said. "More opportunity. More power. For you, I mean."
Not to mention that I can have things I can't have on Earth, John thought as he
rested a hand on Rodney's collar again.
"Yeah," he said. "All that."
Across the ocean, lightning flared.
"Did you plan on having this discussion in conjunction with the storm?" Rodney
asked, as the sounds of the thunder reached them. "Because I have to admit it's
pretty dramatic."
"Never let it be said that I don't have a sense of occasion."
"God forbid." Rodney's tone was as dry as John's, but his smile was
unexpectedly genuine.
                                     * * *
As much as John wanted to start tracking down spies, he held off for a while.
Rodney was hard at work on the City's defenses, back on the elusive trail of
the drone manufacturing station he was sure existed somewhere in the city. John
still made him run in the mornings, but he cut his time in the gym and range
down to twice a week to give him more time to work.
John's team had a couple of missions and finally, during a visit to the Mial on
M68-259, he got a chance to talk to Teyla while Jeannie and Ronon met with the
town's engineer. The Mial had the best beer garden John had seen outside of the
German Protectorate and he settled down with Teyla at a somewhat secluded
table. The beer was good, the sun was shining and the air was crisp and clean;
he'd have to wait quite a while for a better chance to have this conversation.
After making sure they weren't being scanned, he set his scanner and life signs
detector on the table in front of them and then leaned back to look at Teyla.
"What is on your mind, John?"
"The future."
She raised an eyebrow. "Oh? That is unusual."
"Yeah, yeah," John said, waving a hand. "That's me...never thinking of
tomorrow. But ever since the thing with Lorne...." He shrugged and sipped his
beer. "It'll just keep happening. I'm not the guy they want guarding the back
door."
"No." She smiled. "Blind loyalty is not one of your virtues."
"I'm going to take that as a compliment."
"It was intended as one." She took a drink of beer, looking at him over the rim
of her mug. "So, am I to assume that your idea of the future does not involve
Earth's interests?"
"I'm not going to give the Wraith Earth's coordinates; I owe the State that
much. But that's about as far as I'm willing to go."
Although that's subject to change, John thought. If it came down to a choice
between the Wraith taking Atlantis or Earth...well, John didn't owe the State
that much.
"And what do you owe Atlantis and this galaxy? Or is it the other way around;
should I be asking what you think Atlantis and my galaxy owe you?"
"A little of both, I suppose." Before he could say more, she leaned forward.
"John, do your plans go beyond controlling Atlantis?"
"Aside from killing the Wraith off, I'm not sure." She looked at him steadily
and he sighed. "Atlantis can't exist in a vacuum; you know that. We can't feed
ourselves, and there are other resources we need but don't have. Do I want to
create some kind of vast, galaxy wide empire out here?" He shook his head. "No.
"Do I want Atlantis and her allies to be the only major power in this galaxy?
Yes."
"I must admit, I would rather my people were allied with an independent
Atlantis. From what I have seen, we mean little to Earth's government."
"Yeah, you've got that right." John finished off his beer. "And, trust me, I
know damn well how much we owe you; we wouldn't have survived without you and
your people. Why do you think we're having this conversation? I'm going to need
your help."
Teyla smiled. "Thank you."
"For what?"
"Trusting me. Admitting that you need someone."
"Ha ha." He paused and gestured for more beer. "We need more weapons than we
have," he said after the boy had dropped off another round. "I've got Rodney
working on that but, smart as he is, he's still an uneducated kid."
"Do you really believe Jeannie would betray you?"
John frowned. While it made talking to her easier, it was still a little
unnerving when Teyla figured out what he was really saying.
"I don't always know what her agenda is. If she wants the prestige that will
come back on Earth when she can finally publish," he replied, "I'm not sure I
can count on her to help us break with Earth."
Teyla shook her head. "I do not believe that is her first priority."
"What is?"
"Knowing things," Teyla said, and yeah, she was right. In that, at least,
Jeannie and Rodney were alike. "And power."
"Rodney said something along those lines. That she doesn't have to compete with
anyone out here."
"Rodney is very observant."
"Am I right to trust him?"
"John," and now she looked disapproving. "You do not really need to ask me
that."
"Okay, fine. Do you really believe I should trust Jeannie?"
"Yes," Teyla said firmly. "And Ronon, of course."
"Well, yeah." John took a deep breath. "And Elizabeth?"
"I believe so. Can you use the City's systems to keep a watch on her?"
"I think so; I'll talk to Rodney about it." He looked up and saw Jeannie and
Ronon approaching them.
"I could kill someone for a beer right now," Jeannie said and gestured to the
boy. "Remind me again why I bust my ass for these people?"
"They pay us in really good beer," Ronon said. "And you like that pink fruit."
"Oh, right," Jeannie said.
"Ronon," John asked, once they all had more beer. "Talk to me about Jordan and
Teldy."
"They're both solid," Ronon said quickly. He took a long drink of beer, and
then looked at John. "You're making your move?"
"Your move?" Jeannie looked from John to Ronon. "What's this?"
"What would you do if you were recalled to Earth?" John asked.
Jeannie's eyes went wide. "Oh, shit, they're not really recalling us, are
they?" Her obvious concern made John feel better about the conversation.
"No, but what if they did?"
"One thing you can say for the Mial, they appreciate my talent," Jeannie said,
looking around the bright, bustling beer garden and out to the town square. "I
could do pretty well here."
Teyla gave John an "I told you so" look and Jeannie's eyes narrowed a little.
"You're going to do it, aren't you?" she asked. Before John could answer, she
continued. "It's about time; I was beginning to wonder if you had the balls for
it."
"Thanks, McKay." John took a deep breath. "There are a lot of things we need,
but most of all...."
"A ZPM," Jeannie said.
"Yeah, preferably two, " John said. "Obviously weapons and allies and a better
supply line are on the list, but it all comes down to power."
"Weir isn't stupid," Ronon said. "If we start shifting our mission priorities,
she's going to wonder what we're up to."
"I don't trust her as far as I can throw her," Jeannie said, leaning back and
crossing her arms across her chest.
"Teyla thinks we can," John said.
"That's rich coming from you; you hate her."
"I hate a lot of people," John replied with a scowl. "We don't have to tell her
everything and we can keep a really close eye on her."
"If you say so," Jeannie said. "But I draw the line at Zelenka."
"I agree; we'll leave him where he is for now."
That John was thinking of using Zelenka as a hostage for Elizabeth's good
behavior was something he thought he should keep to himself.
Later, as they headed toward the gate, he glanced over at Jeannie. "Do you want
me to have Rodney start combing the database for possible ZPM locations?"
"He knows about...no, never mind. Of course he knows." She frowned
thoughtfully. "I should talk to him; I know which addresses we've already
tried. There's no need to reinvent the wheel, after all."
John thought about asking her to let up on Rodney, but no--he was already more
involved in McKay family dynamics than he wanted to be. Let Rodney and Jeannie
sort it out or not. As long as both of them survived the experience, he really
didn't care.
===============================================================================
"Meredith?"
Rodney looked up from his computer and blinked in surprise.
"Jeannie? What do you want?" She scowled, probably because he didn't call her
"Dr. McKay" but he just mentally shrugged it off. It was childish, but he knew
she called him Meredith because he hated it.
"I need to talk to you. Alone."
"Break time," Rodney said to the lab at large. "Can one of you go grab me a
muffin or a donut or something?"
"Look at you," Jeannie said after everyone had filed out. "All important with
your own staff."
"Yeah, that's me; Atlantis' empire builder."
"Interesting of you to put it that way, since your boyfriend actually holds
that title these days."
"I assume the colonel's plans are why you're here?"
She stopped looking around the room and settled down in Namin's chair. "Did he
tell you that he wants us to step up our search for ZPMs?" When Rodney nodded,
she continued. "You're actually better with the database than I am and we can't
trust this search to any of my people."
"Okay...." Rodney knew better than to thank her for the compliment if he didn't
want an insult to follow it up. "But you know which addresses you've already
visited."
"Exactly," she said, holding out a memory stick. "Here's an annotated list of
all the addresses we've checked out. If you have any questions...." She sounded
almost uncertain as her voice trailed off and Rodney looked up in surprise.
"Well, come to me," she finally said. "I'll try to be a little more...." She
shrugged.
"I'm glad you sent for me," Rodney finally muttered, looking at his feet. "It's
better than being a ward of the state back on Earth."
"Well, of course it is," she said. "I haven't forgiven you, you know."
"I wouldn't expect you to. Just remember...I was only eleven at the time."
"And you wouldn't do it now?"
Rodney shrugged. "I've seen how you are here; I'd probably let you handle him."
"Let me?"
Before he could say anything, she shook her head. "Anyway, do your best to find
us an address or two."
"Yeah."
After the door closed behind her, Rodney took a deep breath and looked at the
stick in his hand. Was she actually trying to apologize? At the sound of the
door opening again, he quickly tucked the stick into the port on his laptop.
"You're not bleeding," Mullins said, handing him a muffin.
"Not yet, at least," Rodney said absently.
Bringing up the list of planets the various teams had visited, Rodney frowned
as he went through the expedition's first few months. Many of the missions were
supply or reconnaissance missions and most of the addresses had been supplied
by the Athosians or by new allies. Later, there had been a list of planets that
might have ZPMs that apparently came from some version of Dr. Weir who'd gotten
trapped in the past, but still, Rodney was pretty sure that, once the 'Lanteans
had taken the ZPMs from the Brotherhood and from the planet of the feral
children, they'd had their hands full with the Wraith attacks and Earth
politics and hadn't had the time to search out additional power sources.
I wonder if there could be ZPMs or even leads on planets they've already
visited.
The database was huge and even using Ancient equipment it took a while to
search, particularly after Rodney restricted it to a protected terminal that
wouldn't alert anyone to the system activity. He set up a search for off world
weapons research stations and bases and then added in Jeannie's list of
addresses just to see if any matches came up.
As much as he wanted to read through the notes on Jeannie's list, he knew
better than to waste the time. With a sigh, he pocketed the stick and turned
back to his drone research.
                                     * * *
"Jeannie came by today," Rodney said after dinner that evening.
"Yeah?" Sheppard said, looking up from his computer.
"I started up a search for planets that might have ZPMs, but searching the
Ancient database gives new meaning to looking for a needle in a hay stack.
Hopefully something will come up." He paused. "Did you talk to the whole team?"
Sheppard nodded. "Yeah, and Ronon brought up a good point--if we start going on
ZPM missions, Weir will wonder what we're up to." He leaned back and looked at
Rodney. "Talk to me about the Ancient internal security; can we keep an eye on
her without anyone knowing?"
"That depends." Rodney sighed. His life would be a lot easier if Sheppard
weren't so paranoid. Granted, Sheppard had good cause to be paranoid, but
still. "What kind of information are you looking for?"
"I want to know who her allies are here in the city, and whether or not she's
having conversations I don't know about with the people back on Earth."
"I thought Jeannie was checking the data stream. She'd be more likely to catch
hidden messages than I would be, given that she's the one who designed the data
compression system you use."
"Oh, we know Weir's not getting information out on her own," Sheppard said.
"But I need to know if she's channeling it through anyone else."
"I can set up the Ancient systems to track her every move without her knowing
it if that's what you want, but watching her is going to be a full time job.
Don't you have anyone you can trust to do it?"
"That's the problem. Right now I trust the team and you and that's it. Ronon
thinks Jordan and Teldy are okay, but they have a lot on their plates as it
is."
In an attempt to be practical, Rodney did his best to ignore the warm feeling
in his chest brought on by Sheppard's words. "You know, Namin has turned out to
be really loyal," he said after a moment's thought. "If all you're looking for
initially is a list of Dr. Weir's associates, is there any chance of having an
Athosian do it? Someone Teyla trusts?"
"Interesting idea. They wouldn't be loyal to Earth and Teyla does have a way
with people who betray her." He gave Rodney a look. "You're good at this, you
know."
"I was just thinking that I'm probably not as paranoid as I should be."
Sheppard snorted. "No. You were thinking that you're not as paranoid as I am.
Do you really think I don't know what people think about me?"
"Oh, I think you know," Rodney said, hoping he wasn't making a huge mistake.
"But I suspect it's like anything else with you. You only care up to the point
where the information or the person is useful to you."
For a moment, he thought he'd gone too far, said too much, and he braced for a
reaction. Instead, Sheppard got up and poured himself more bourbon. "I grew up
knowing that I was the only person I could count on. My dad and my various
step-mothers...well, it's better to grow up rich than not, right? All my
brother is good for is running the business and he's probably cheating me."
"And you don't care?"
"My mother left me more money than I can spend and no one can touch it but me,
so no. If the business is that important to Dave, let him have it." Sheppard
knocked back a healthy swallow of his drink.
"Everything I give a damn about is here."
It would have been a much more touching sentiment, Rodney thought, if Sheppard
hadn't looked vaguely annoyed. Since there wasn't much he could say and it was
pretty clear the moment was over, Rodney just nodded.
"So," Sheppard said, drinking more bourbon. "About keeping an eye on
Elizabeth...."
"It'll take a day or two to set the system up; after that, I can have it make
recordings and you can talk to Teyla about how you want to work the
surveillance."
"Good boy."
Rodney smiled at that and stood up, sliding his boxers down. "I can be even
better," he said and, to his relief, Sheppard laughed.
"Get the cuffs--wrists, ankles and thighs--and get on the bed."
As Rodney settled on the bed with the cuffs, Sheppard dug around in a drawer
and finally came up with what looked like a very small flogger. "You're going
to like this," he said with a smile that suggested Sheppard himself would like
it regardless of Rodney's thoughts on the matter.
"Oh?" Rodney wriggled just a little as Sheppard sat next to him on the bed.
"Yeah," Sheppard slid a hand up Rodney's chest, pausing to pinch a nipple.
"Wrists."
Rodney held out his wrists, shivering a little as Sheppard buckled the cuffs
into place and then hooked them to the headboard. The thigh cuffs followed and
then the ankle cuffs, which Sheppard locked to the thigh cuffs. Sheppard then
tied the thigh cuffs to the side of the bed, making it impossible for Rodney to
close his legs.
"Damn," Sheppard said, settling on the bed between Rodney's thighs. "All I have
to do is tie you up and you get hard." He looked at Rodney's cock, smiled and
slapped the small flogger into the palm of his hand.
"Oh, God," Rodney muttered, instinctively trying to bring his knees together.
Sheppard liked to do this, liked to let Rodney know what he was planning.
Rodney wasn't sure he appreciated the warning, particularly since there was
nothing he could do to stop Sheppard.
The first blow landed on the underside of Rodney's upper arm, just below his
armpit. The flogger was hard and it stung. Rodney yelped and twisted against
the cuffs. "Fuck," he muttered, staring at the red marks on his arm. "What's
that thing made of?"
"Nice hard rubber," Sheppard said with a pleased little smile. "Hurts, does
it?"
"Yeah," Rodney said, staring at the thing. "It does."
"And you like it," Sheppard said, bringing it down on Rodney's chest. At least
one of the strands landed on his nipple and he cried out again.
When Rodney finally spoke, his voice was shaky. "Yes," he said, staring up at
Sheppard. "I like it."
Sheppard looked pleased. "Good boy." He moved more quickly now, landing blows
seemingly at random all over Rodney arms, chest and thighs. Each one stung and
soon Rodney was squirming and gasping.
When Rodney finally broke down and begged, he was desperate. The pain was
pushing him high and then higher and the words "please" and "more" escaped
before he could help it. Sheppard laughed and gripped one of Rodney's thighs
tightly.
"Oh, I'll give you more, boy," he said. "I'll give you all you can handle."
Rodney braced himself as well as he could, terrified but wanting all the same,
and then Sheppard brought the whip down, not on Rodney's cock as expected, but
on the soft, sensitive skin of his balls. Straining against the cuffs, Rodney
threw his head back and screamed as his vision went hazy.
"No," he managed to get out. "No more...please...."
"You don't mean that," Sheppard said, doing it again. Rodney screamed once and
then again as the whip landed for a third time and then a fourth and even the
endorphins flooding through his body didn't stop the tears from coming.
Things got a little hazy for a moment or two--Sheppard hit him a few more
times--but then he felt Sheppard's slick fingers teasing his hole and, oh God,
yes, getting fucked was exactly what he wanted. Right now.
"Fuck me...please please...please, John...."
Sheppard muttered something, but Rodney was too far gone to hear him. He felt
it, though, when Sheppard pushed into him hard and fast and almost clumsy.
Bound as he was, Rodney couldn't do anything but lie there and take it. And
even though his balls hurt each time Sheppard thrust into him, Rodney wanted
it, wanted to know that he drove Sheppard crazy, that he alone could make
Sheppard lose it like this.
"Please," he choked out. "Let me...please."
"Do it!" Sheppard snapped, pushing into him hard and then going still. Rodney
came and Sheppard shouted something and came as well.
Rodney didn't exactly pass out, but he came close to it. After several moments,
the first thing he was really aware of was Sheppard nuzzling his face and
licking at the tears on his cheeks. It was only when he stretched that he
realized he'd been unbound.
"God," he said, his voice husky from the screaming. "That...fuck, that really
hurt."
"Yeah," Sheppard said, sounding extremely satisfied. "I can tell."
Later, while Sheppard snored softly in the bedroom, Rodney stood in front of
the full length mirror and did his best to check out his balls. They still hurt
like hell, but aside from a little redness, they looked okay. Relieved, because
the last thing he wanted to do was see Dr. Keller about his fucking balls,
Rodney leaned his forehead against the cool glass and just breathed quietly for
a moment.
He no longer really worried about Sheppard going too far because more and more
he was beginning to believe there wasn't a too far, no line Sheppard could
cross. So far, everything Sheppard had done to him, Rodney had been able to not
only bear, but enjoy.
And fine, maybe that made him as much of a pervert as Sheppard, but Rodney
didn't care.
                                     * * *
One of the nice things about the people he was working with, Rodney thought as
he gave up the pretense of dignity he'd managed during breakfast and just sat
on a pillow, was that they were used to him working while recovering from
Sheppard's attentions. Even Phillips didn't get all embarrassed any more. Not
that the pillow helped all that much, although it was better than nothing. As
much as he liked what Sheppard did to him, Rodney really could do without the
morning after issues.
Frowning, he settled down behind the console he was using to search the Ancient
database and brought up the results so far.
"Oh, no way," he muttered, checking the gate address to make sure he was right.
He was. There really had been a research lab on Larish. Rodney reached up and
pinched the bridge of his nose.
Bringing up the notes from the first contact mission with Larish, Rodney read
them over. The Larish, it turned out, had traded with the Athosians for a
couple of centuries before the expedition from Earth had arrived on Atlantis.
Jeannie and Sheppard's notes on that initial mission confirmed what Rodney
already knew--the Larish had said they'd trade with Atlantis provided Atlantis
dealt with the southern tribes. There had been an exchange of courtesies and
then AR-1 had returned to Atlantis to discuss allying themselves with the
Larish.
And they never thought to check for ZPMs or a lab....
He did a quick search through the modern database, pulling up what he could on
Larish. It was mostly supply stuff; they got a fair amount of their fresh
fruits and vegetables from the Larish as well as some of their meat. In return,
the Larish got salt--which the 'Lanteans had in abundance--some technical
assistance and help with the occasional uprising. At one point one of the other
teams had mentioned that the Larish clergy had a library in their main temple,
but, near as Rodney could tell, no one had ever investigated it.
No time? he wondered. Or just Jeannie deciding that a society with Renaissance-
level technology had nothing to offer?
The search had kicked out two other addresses, neither of which were on
Jeannie's list, but it wasn't done yet. Rodney locked the console again and
then turned to another console and began setting up a security check on Dr.
Weir. It was easier than struggling with the database; Rodney had been working
on the Ancient internal security systems for months and he was pretty sure he
knew more about it than anyone else in the City.
Weir was working in her office right now; Rodney adjusted the angle until he
could see right over her shoulder. It took Rodney a moment to focus on her
screen; from what he could see when he managed it, it looked liked she was
working on the supply schedule. He'd been curious about just what she did and
now, he found himself wondering if Sheppard knew or cared. Sure, Sergeant
Linder was the Quartermaster, but Rodney suspected it was Weir who kept track
of the allies and what they owed Atlantis and when they'd owed it.
With a mental shrug, Rodney set things up so that the system would keep an eye
on Weir 24/7, locked down the console, and then turned back to his other
research. Does anyone notice that I'm doing the work of two or three guys? he
thought. Of course not, all they see is Sheppard's boy toy.
Telling himself that it was safer that way, he settled down to do some real
work.
===============================================================================
"Do you have a moment, Sir?"
John looked up from his paperwork. Rodney was hovering in the doorway, his
tablet in hand. He had an odd expression on his face, and John wondered if he'd
found something in the system or if he was still sore from last night.
"C'mon in," he said, not really trying to hide a smug little smile when Rodney
winced a little as he sat down. "What's up?" he asked, trying to get the image
of Rodney, naked and tied to the bed out of his head.
"Okay, first of all, I have the Ancient's security system keeping a round the
clock watch on Dr. Weir. Once you have someone to review the recordings, I'll
set something up so they can watch them without going any deeper into the
system."
"Sounds good," John said, far more impressed than he let on. "I talked to Teyla
earlier; she should have someone for us in the next couple of days."
"Good." Rodney looked down at his tablet, shaking his head like he couldn't
believe what was on it.
"And?"
"As far as the hunt for a ZPM, I've been looking for Ancient outposts and
research stations and I've found three possibilities. Two addresses you've
never visited and...Larish."
"You have got to be kidding me," John said. He and Rodney never talked about
what had happened on Larish. Keller had done an excellent job on Rodney's nose,
and as far as John was concerned, that was the end of it. He really didn't
appreciate the reminder.
"I'm afraid not. According to a report from AR-3, there's a library in the
Larish temple. It might have some clues...."
"Maybe," John said, cutting him off. "What about the other addresses?"
"One general research station and one weapons research station." He handed over
a memory stick. "Here are the addresses and the information from the database."
"Thanks." John tucked the stick into a pocket and leaned back in his chair
looking at Rodney. Maybe a little praise was in order; Rodney had, after all,
done well. "I mean it; you've done a lot, without much help."
Rodney ducked his head, but John could see the pleased smile on his face. It
made him look like he was about twelve, and John grinned and mentally told the
door to lock itself.
"What else can I do for you, sir?" Rodney asked, a very different smile on his
face. "Just...um, if I can make a request?"
"I know you're hurting, if that's what you're asking," John said. "So what do
you want?"
"Let me blow you," Rodney said, sliding off his chair. He went to his hands and
knees and crawled over to John.
As he knelt up, John slid his hand down into Rodney's hair, leaned back so
Rodney could reach his fly and thought, this is the fucking life.
                                     * * *
Two days later, John flew the jumper through the gate to M19-984, heading
toward the first of the Ancient outposts Rodney had found. Rodney had looked a
little wistful as John geared up in their quarters, but he hadn't said
anything, and while, after all the training he'd put in, he was probably
qualified to go on missions, John had no intention of risking him on something
like this.
Neither Ronon nor the Athosians knew anything about the this particular planet,
probably because it had a space gate. Keeping the jumper cloaked, John did a
quick low orbit while Jeannie manned the scanners.
"Huh...pretty sure there's some Ancient tech down there. I'm getting some faint
energy readings," she said. John nodded, he'd seen them on the HUD almost as
soon as she'd seen them on the console.
"And...hello," John said. "Human life signs in roughly the same place." He
frowned. "Depending on their tech level, these people might not have heard of
us. Unless there's another gate down there?"
"Hard to tell," Jeannie said. "It's all a jumble." She frowned. "Wow, there are
people all over this planet...it's got one of the biggest populations I've seen
since we came to Pegasus."
"Earth population levels?"
"No no, nothing like that. But some of these settlements have several thousand
people in them; this big one," she pointed to a bright spot on the HUD, "looks
to have twenty-five thousand, maybe even thirty thousand."
"Thank God it's nowhere hear the outpost. Looks like that settlement is pretty
small."
"Yeah, about three hundred people or so."
John set up a low geosynchronous orbit above the settlement and then looked at
Jeannie. "Okay, aside from the Ancient stuff, what's their tech level?"
"Low," she said. "Looks like they use water and wind power...." She touched a
few buttons and brought up the external camera views. "Oh, shit, tell me that
isn't a temple type set up?"
"Looks like," Ronon said.
"This is not just a simple temple." Teyla stood up and came forward to point at
the display. "Look at the quality of the roads leading into village. And these
look like barracks or, more likely, guest housing. This is an important
pilgrimage site."
"Well, fuck," John muttered.
"What you said," Ronon said, scowling. "Are we going to have to pretend to be
pilgrims again?"
"Either that or come back with some Marines." John was only half joking. Having
made up his mind to break from Earth, he wanted to get it over with. Dicking
around with libraries and weird-ass native religions was never his idea of a
good time, and now he hated wasting the effort.
"If we do this correctly," Teyla said, "this planet could be useful."
"Yeah," Jeannie said. "Their tech level is low, but there are a lot of them. If
we end up needing cheap labor...."
"I know," John snapped. "Fine, let's get a closer look, see what kind of
weaponry we'll be dealing with."
The answer, somewhat disturbingly, was none. They watched the site for an hour,
seeing neither fixed defensive weapons nor personal weapons on any of the
villagers. The village itself wasn't even fortified.
"Wonder what they're hiding," Ronon said as John landed the jumper in a ravine
roughly ten minutes away from the village.
"Maybe the sheer sanctity of the site protects them," Jeannie suggested
sarcastically, tucking her life signs detector into her pocket.
"The temple and its village could be neutral territory," Teyla said.
They'd nearly reached the village before they were noticed by a young woman who
was sweeping the small paved area in front of a cottage.
"Oh!" she said, staring at them with wide eyes. "Are you messengers?"
"Travelers," Teyla said. "We wish to visit the temple."
"But it is not the season for pilgrims." The girl looked alarmed and stepped
back. "You should see the Elder."
"I think we're about to," John murmured as several people hurried down the lane
toward them.
"You are not the usual messengers," a middle-aged man said, frowning nervously
at them. Unlike the villagers, who wore comfortable looking pants and tunics,
he was dressed in an elaborate robe "Is there...." He paused and clearly tried
to calm down. "I am Rathgar, Elder of the Sanctum of Talahar. Please, let us
talk in private."
He led them to a comfortable looking courtyard in front of the main temple
building. Even as he checked the area for weapons, hidden or overt, John could
see the familiar Ancient aesthetic in the coppery metal patterns on the walls
and floor of the courtyard.
"You are not the normal messengers and your clothing is unfamiliar. Is there
war in the east?"
The east, John remembered, had been the most populated area of the continent,
while most of the settlements in the south had been small and scattered. "We
don't know," he said. "We're from south of here."
"So you are really here to see the Sanctum?" The Elder had been mostly speaking
to John but now, for some reason, he glanced quickly at Teyla and Jeannie and
then, when he saw that John was watching him, he looked away.
"Is that so unusual?" Teyla asked. "Sister Jeannie is a mystic of some note,
but we have never been able to make the journey until now. Surely her devotions
should not have to wait for the proper season?"
John could almost feel Jeannie rolling her eyes, but the Elder looked
impressed. "You are her companion?" he asked Teyla.
"Yes. Yes, she is," Jeannie said. "And these two," she gestured dismissively at
John and Ronon, "are my bodyguards. You can't be too careful on the road these
days."
"Of course, Sister," the man said, bowing so obsequiously to Jeannie that it
was John's turn to roll his eyes. "We can begin the purification ceremony as
soon as the sun goes down."
"Seeing as we've never been here...."
"What exactly does purification entail?" Teyla asked quickly, talking right
over Jeannie. "We have never been to so renowned a sanctum as this."
"We keep only the simplest of rites here. After you dine, we will observe an
hour of silent meditation."
This was, John thought, a little too easy.
The rest of the afternoon and evening passed without incident, which did
nothing to lessen John's concern. After learning that Jeannie was the only one
who had to meditate, he took Ronon aside.
"Why don't you duck out after dinner and see if you can pick up anything from
the villagers? Any information at all would be helpful, but you know what to
look for."
Dinner was simple--roasted meat and bread served to them by two quiet acolytes.
The conversation was limited, but it quickly became clear that the Talaharians
worshiped the Ancients. On the surface, that was a good thing; it made it much
easier to pretend to have the same religious viewpoints.
On the other hand, John had had to shoot his way out of more than one situation
where the locals thought he or Jeannie, or both, were committing blasphemy by
imitating an Ancestor. He still hadn't seen any weapons here, so hopefully they
could handle it if Jeannie accidentally activated some Ancient device.
Shortly after dinner, Ronon excused himself and no one thought it strange that
he wanted to walk for a while. While John could turn on the charm if he needed
to, Ronon was better at just standing around while people attempted to fill the
silence with chatter and, since he actually seemed to like gathering intel,
John was happy to let him do it.
It turned out that Jeannie was supposed to meditate in an anteroom. "Teyla will
accompany me," she said, holding her head up regally. The Elder and his
acolytes followed them up the stairs and, once they were gone, John took a
surreptitious look at his life signs detector, but aside from the party in the
anteroom, there was no one in the general sanctum area.
Pouring himself a glass of the fruit juice they'd been served with dinner, John
leaned back against one of the walls and started running through escape
scenarios in his head.
"Hey," Ronon said, coming back into the courtyard just under an hour later.
"Are Jeannie and Teyla still meditating?"
"Yeah, with the Elder and his guys. So it's just you and me." John offered him
a glass of juice. "Anything?"
"Teyla was right; this is neutral territory. The chiefs and princes east of
here send tribute to keep it that way. There's a whole pilgrimage season and
apparently it gets a little crazy around here. The population triples with all
the pilgrims and the whores and people selling shit."
"Give me that old time religion," John muttered.
"You believe in anything?" Ronon asked.
Holding up his P-90, John gave him a tight grin. "Might makes right."
"Yeah," Ronon said, with a big grin of his own. "But," he said, giving John a
more serious look, "we might need to come up with some kind of tribute."
John just held his gun up again and Ronon nodded.
"Speaking of which," John said, "did you find anything out about their
weaponry?"
"The people in the east have some individual guns, really primitive ones.
Mostly though, it's spears, swords, bows, and armor. Also, a little bit of
larger black powder ordnance." Ronon shrugged. "The villagers here don't have
any weapons, so right now, we're good."
"None?"
"No one's attacked the temple in something like seven hundred years. They say
the Ancestors protect them."
"Really?" John frowned. He wasn't sure he liked the sound of that. "What about
the Wraith?"
Ronon shook his head. "They looked at me like I was talking about neshik."
"What?"
"Little winged demon heads that hide under the bed and eat bad children."
"Huh...so Wraith were here long ago, but these later ones don't remember this
address." Filing that fact away for prior use, John nodded. "Anything else?"
"They're pretty friendly," Ronon said with a shrug. "Not very suspicious."
Several minutes later, the Elder and Teyla made their way down the stairs of
the temple, the acolytes behind them.
"The Sister is very holy," the Elder said, looking impressed. "She wished to be
alone in the presence of the Ancestors."
Well, that's one possible problem dealt with; if she sets off any tech, they
won't be there to see it.
"I did not wish to bring this up in front of the Sister," the Elder began after
sitting back down. The acolytes poured everyone more juice and one of them
brought out a plate of slightly sweet biscuits that reminded John a little of
scones. "However, there is the matter of the tribute."
"What is the usual tribute for such a visit? Our own sanctum is very small and
it is primarily supported by our farmers and herders," Teyla said and John
couldn't help marveling, yet again, at how good she was at this kind of thing.
"We do not ask for much," the Elder said, spreading his hands. "A few bars of
processed gold or, perhaps, a hundredweight of trade tokens?"
"Not much?" Ronon said, raising an eyebrow.
Trying not to roll his eyes, John leaned back and played his usual part in this
kind of thing, scowling and resting a hand on his P-90. The Elder shot him the
occasional look, but didn't look nearly as worried as John would have liked.
They're not armed, he reminded himself. Nothing to worry about.
"I believe we can come to an arrangement," Teyla was saying when John returned
his attention to the bargaining. "Of course, we will have to wait for the
Sister."
"Oh?"
Teyla managed to sound subtly irritated. "Sister Jeannie keeps a...careful hand
on the purse strings."
"You do things very differently in the South."
"Do we?" Teyla looked politely curious and John hid a smirk.
The Elder's smile was a little pained.
Teyla smiled in return, but her right hand was resting on the butt of her
Beretta and she tapped it twice.
"Nice place," Ronon said, looking around the courtyard casually. John had
already looked and, as far as he could see, not only was there nothing like an
arrow slit, there didn't seem to be any defenses. There was a lot of decorative
metal work that was obviously Ancient, but that was it.
Sitting ducks, he thought smugly.
After another hour during which Teyla carefully teased more information from
the Elder, John got to his feet, mumbling something about a call of nature.
Once he was away from the temple and his life signs detector told him there was
no one within listening distance, he tapped his radio.
"McKay?"
"Yeah yeah yeah...what?"
"Good to hear you're still alive," John said dryly. "Any luck?"
"No ZPM," she said with a sigh. "But there's a fair amount of intact data, some
of which is going to make your boyfriend happy."
"Yeah, well, how much longer are you going to be in there?"
"Another hour maybe. Why?"
John checked his life signs detector again. "They want money and we don't have
any. Can the Elder call down the wrath of the Ancients on us?"
"Hmmm...hang on a sec." She went silent for a long moment and then snorted.
"Well, will you look at that. The decorative metal inlay in the courtyard is
part of a defense system."
"What's powering it?"
"A crystal generator which I've just taken off line. And before you ask, of
course I'll check to make sure there's no back up system or any other surprises
they can hit us with."
"Good."
Jeannie's hour turned into two hours and then it was another half hour after
that before she finally stepped out of the temple.
"Sister...." the Elder began.
"We're leaving," Jeannie said shortly.
The Elder stared at her, his mouth slightly open in shock. "Most seekers remain
with us for days, weeks even."
Well, that explains the high tribute they demand, John thought as he stood up,
hands resting on his P-90.
"I have no reason to stay," Jeannie said. "The Ancestors are not here."
"I assure you, They are." As the Elder spoke, his two acolytes retreated to
stand one the stairs to the temple. As the Elder made a gesture, John's P-90
snapped up and Ronon pulled his gun out of its holster.
They all stood that way for a long moment, the Elder looking more and more
concerned. He made his gesture again and still nothing happened. "What did you
do?" he said turning to glare at Jeannie. "You profaned our sanctum!"
"Your sanctum's an empty room with a few pretty things that don't light up any
more." Jeannie looked at John. "C'mon, let's go."
"You will go nowhere, false mystic!" the Elder yelled, making another gesture.
Again, nothing happened. "The chiefs of the Eastern tribes and the Princes of
the Great Cities will hunt you down and you will die in agony."
The Elder had a pretty good voice, nice and deep and priestly, but John was
getting kind of tired of the shouting and it was getting on toward dinner time
on Atlantis. Of course, properly cowed, the Elder might be useful later...
"Bring 'em on," he said, turning to aim at one of the acolytes.
Squeezing off a single round was simple and the first acolyte was still falling
to the ground when John shot the second one. Two perfect shots, he thought.
They'll find the entry holes in the same place on each guy.
Someone screamed behind John and he turned to see a small form disappear out of
view in the gateway of the courtyard. Some kid, probably.
"We'll be leaving now," Jeannie said.
Ronon took point, Teyla and Jeannie behind him.
"Remember us," John said, smiling at the Elder. "We might be back some day."
They didn't have to shoot anyone else all the way out of the village; the few
people out this late at night retreated to their houses at the sight of the
lights on John, Jeannie and Teyla's P-90s. John had just breathed a sigh of
relief when a man carrying a torch stepped out on to the road in front of them.
He was dressed like a farmer and the torch he held danced as if the hand that
held it were shaking. "Who...why...."
"We're from the city of the Ancients," John said, sighting down the barrel of
his gun. "And why? Because we don't pay tribute to anyone."
He squeezed off another round, and the torch hit the ground as the man screamed
and clutched at his arm.
"Well," John said, once they were all settled in the jumper. "Was that a wasted
evening, or did you get any decent information?"
"There might be another station here and maybe even a second gate on the
ground, but I'll need to go through the data."
"Okay, then, let's blow this place."
                                     * * *
Rodney was in the middle of dinner when John walked into their quarters. "So,"
he said, looking at John curiously. "Did you...?"
"Shut up and get naked," John snapped and God, but the little flicker of fear
that crossed Rodney's face was perfect. John closed his eyes and pressed a hand
to the front of his BDUs. "Now!"
When John opened his eyes again, Rodney was going to his knees right in front
of him. "You smell like cordite," he said, his hands busy with John's fly.
"Yeah?" John said, his voice already rough. "Shut up and suck me off."
He'd been hard since they'd left the village, and Rodney's mouth around his
aching dick was pure heaven. Reaching down, he tangled his fingers into
Rodney's hair and pulled him down, waiting for that moment when Rodney started
to choke. It came, and John pulled back for a second before he shoved back into
Rodney's mouth again.
He did it again and again, keeping Rodney just on the edge of passing out while
he did his best to swallow around John's dick. John locked his knees and
reached down to press his hand around Rodney's neck. Rodney's moan was ragged
and John could feel his throat working hard.
"Take it," John growled although he could barely speak. "Fucking choke on
it...oh, fuck!" Not caring if Rodney had enough air, he shoved his hips forward
as he came so hard he almost fell. Finally, as Rodney bent over, coughing and
gasping for air, John staggered back and sat down hard on the bed.
"C'mere," John said. "Good boy," he said as Rodney crawled across the floor.
"Get up here."
"Okay." Rodney sounded like a pack a day smoker and, damn, it was hot, knowing
he'd had done that to Rodney. John almost wished he could get hard again and do
it all over. Of course, he'd been thinking about fucking Rodney too, so
maybe....
"Knees and elbows." John got up, did up his pants and took his tac vest off. He
quickly dug through the footlocker of toys until he found what he was looking
for--the big plug that drove Rodney crazy. Grabbing the lube off the
nightstand, he settled behind Rodney.
"Please...want it so much...."
"You're gonna have to wait," John said. He slicked up his fingers and pushed
two of them hard into Rodney's hole. Rodney gave a little gasp, but then shoved
back against John's hand and John chuckled and slapped his ass.
"Slut."
"Yeah," Rodney said. John wanted to laugh; even hoarse and breathless Rodney
sounded weirdly matter of fact.
Part of the thrill of using toys on Rodney was watching him squirm and work
hard to take it, and so John didn't bother much with prep. And sure enough,
when he started pushing the plug into Rodney, Rodney slid his knees further
apart and wriggled and swore. John kept it up, inch by inch, until Rodney had
the whole thing inside him.
"Fuck," Rodney gasped. "Goddamn, that's big."
"You love it."
"I do, but please...."
"No. You just have to wait."
"I know that," Rodney said, sounding almost annoyed. "Please, can you put a
cock ring on me? I'm afraid I might.... Please, Sir?"
"Kinky little bastard," John muttered, slapping Rodney's ass again before he
dug a cock ring out of the nightstand drawer. Giving Rodney a hard shove, he
rolled him over onto his back and grinned at the sight.
Rodney was hard, and there was a slick patch on his belly where the head of his
dick rubbed against his skin. After John snapped the ring on, he reached down
and pushed the plug in deeper while Rodney wriggled and moaned.
"Hold that thought for a few hours," John said. "I'm hungry."
While he thought about dragging Rodney off to the mess like this, John decided
against it and sent for food instead. If he took Rodney to the mess, not only
would Rodney have to put on clothes, but people would see him this flushed and
turned on--and really, there was a limit as to how much John was willing to
share.
"So," he said as they settled down to eat. "We had an afternoon at the improv
on the mission today. Your sister got to pretend to be a mystic."
"You're kidding."
"Nope. That station on M19-984 was a fucking temple. Turns out it's a big
pilgrimage site, so we did the pilgrim thing."
"And it didn't go well."
"How did you guess?"
Rodney, looking surprisingly like Jeannie for a moment, gave him a look. "Your
hands smelled like cordite." He smiled and suddenly looked nothing at all like
his sister. "It's hot."
"Me killing people?" John stared at him and Rodney squirmed.
"You coming in here like that...all worked up." Rodney licked his lips. "Like
after discipline."
"It was hardly a blood bath," John said with a shrug. "Jeannie disabled the
station's defenses and I taught them not to ask us for tribute."
"But no ZPM."
"Nope. Although Jeannie said something about some information she thought you'd
be interested in. I'll ask her about it...."
"You don't have to do that," Rodney said.
"Last time you tore apart a whiteboard stand after you had to ask her for
something."
Rodney shrugged. "We...it's never gonna be like it was, but we're...we can talk
about some things."
"Good," John said, relieved that he wouldn't have to run interference between
the McKay siblings. "We'll be checking out that other address in a couple
days."
"What about...." Rodney looked down at his plate.
"Larish?" Rodney nodded, still not meeting John's eyes. "Do you want to go
back?"
"Me?! I thought Larish was why I don't go on missions."
"You don't go on missions because you're sixteen. Larish...I could walk you
naked through the streets and no one would look at you."
His head snapping up, Rodney finally looked at John. "You wouldn't...."
John crossed his arms across his chest and scowled at Rodney and Rodney went
silent. "I'll do whatever I damn well like."
"Yes, Sir," Rodney murmured, lowering his eyes again. "I'm sorry, Sir."
"And no, I wouldn't, but you need to remember your place, boy."
"Yes, Sir," Rodney said again, and to John's surprise, he slid down off his
chair to kneel at John's feet.
"All the way down," John said.
Rodney's brow furrowed as if he wasn't sure what John meant, but then he bent
forward, tucking his knees and arms under himself and putting his forehead to
the floor until all John could see was the back of his head, his neck and the
smooth expanse of his back.
After staring down at him for a moment, John raised his foot and planted his
boot firmly on the back of Rodney's neck. Rodney shivered and made a soft
little noise, but otherwise he didn't move. Neither did John; he felt almost
frozen in place, struck yet again by the shock of having someone who suited him
so well, someone who was utterly and totally his.
Finally, he moved his foot and nudged Rodney in the hip with the toe of his
boot. "Kneel up."
Rodney was still hard, and his face was flushed again, and somehow John didn't
think the plug and the cockring were the only things turning Rodney on.
"You belong to me," John said, his voice husky.
"Yes," Rodney said with an odd little smile. "I do, Sir."
In the middle of the night, John rolled Rodney over, pulled the plug out and
slammed into him hard. He came to the sounds of Rodney's desperate begging,
thinking, why did I wait so long to have this?
                                     * * *
There was a ZPM on P96-553. The planet itself was uninhabited and, for once,
the research station was easy to find.
"Goddamnit," Jeannie said in disgust as ZPM rose slowly out of its pedestal.
"It's completely drained. The energy readings I got when we came through the
gate were for the auxiliary power systems."
"How are those still working when the ZPM is dead?" Ronon asked.
"Either they only kick in when someone scans the place or the ZPM died really
recently. Probably the latter." Jeannie shrugged, but wrapped the ZPM up and
put it in her pack. "Having a dead one to study could be useful," she said when
John raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah, well, that's nice but it doesn't help us any in the short term."
There was a long moment of silence while Jeannie checked the stations databanks
to see if there was anything useful in them.
"If no one else will say it, I will," Teyla finally said. "We need to check the
library on Larish."
"Rodney's got a couple other addresses for us," John began.
"You're so eager to protect him," Jeannie murmured and there was a snide note
to her tone that set John off.
"I don't like people touching my things," he snapped. "The fucking Larish
should be grateful I didn't do to them what we did to the Genii."
Before anyone could say anything, he turned on his heel and headed for the
door. "Get your godamn data so we can leave, McKay."
The research station had been cut into a hillside and now John made his way
down to the meadow he'd parked the jumper in. Teyla was right behind him, and
finally he turned and glared at her.
"I'm fucking tired of all this dicking around."
"I know," she said. "And if you continue to be this impatient, you are going to
make a mistake."
"Really."
"Yes. And what is more, John, you know it as well as I do." She crossed her arm
and gave him a steady look. "You are more on edge now than you were before
Lorne attempted to take over. Eventually people will notice and wonder why."
"Fine. We'll go to Larish, okay?"
"There is no reason for all of us to go. Jeannie could take Ronon and some of
her scientists...."
"No. We'll go and I'll bring Rodney." He rolled his eyes. "It'll be the perfect
gesture of good faith."
                                     * * *
On top of it all, when they returned to Atlantis, Elizabeth pulled John aside.
"Colonel, may I speak with you?"
Although he'd been expecting it, John tried not to heave a sullen sigh worthy
of Rodney. He doubted she did it on purpose, but Elizabeth really sounded like
a schoolteacher at times. Teyla paused on her way back to her quarters, but
John shook his head and she kept going. He didn't need her holding his hand.
"Let me guess," he said, sitting down to slouch in a chair opposite her desk.
"You want to know why we're shifting missions around."
"No, I want to know why you think we need a ZPM. Or is it Jeannie?" When he
didn't say anything right away, she pinched the bridge of her nose. "Fine. If
you aren't going to keep me in the loop, why don't you just throw me in a
cell?"
"Because that would make you a martyr, and that's the last thing we want."
"John, what do you want?"
"You're not stupid," he said, and as much as he disliked her, that much was
still true. "What do you think?"
She leaned back in her chair and looked at him for a long moment. "You've
gotten better at this since we got here."
"I've kind of had to."
"What else have you gotten better at?" she asked and John blinked but didn't
say anything. "Because when they come for us, it'll be Caldwell or Carter or
Ellis or some combination thereof."
"Us," he said, and she smiled slowly.
"You're not stupid, either."
"Maybe you'll think I am. I can't trust you."
She shrugged. "I don't trust you all that much. But be honest with yourself: if
I didn't run the administrative side of this city, could you do it?"
"No, but Teyla could."
"Maybe. But how many people would follow her lead? And I know," she held up a
hand when he leaned forward, "you don't care. But you should, John."
"So what do you want me to do? Trust you? That's rich; you knew damn well what
Lorne and Zelenka were up to and you didn't tell me."
"I'm not asking you to trust me. I'm asking you to consider what I can do for
you. I know you've got Jeannie reading everything that goes out of this office
back to Earth. Do you have someone watching me as well? Rodney, maybe?"
"Rodney's got better things to keep him busy."
She smiled a little. "I dare say he does."
"Don't even start...."
"I'll accept being under 24/7 surveillance," she said. "If your observers find
anything, you can drop me off the East pier."
"Kind of useless if you know you're being watched."
"John, I've assumed I'm being watched for six months now, during which time I
haven't done a single thing to undermine your position."
"And we're right back to me needing to trust you."
"Let's just leave it at that, then."
John started to get up and then sat back down. "Tell me," he said. "What do you
hope to get out of this?"
"Atlantis was a one way trip for me as much as it was for you or for Jeannie."
She looked past him toward the gate. "There's no going back to Earth for me.
There never has been."
They sat in silence for a long time, and John could tell she was waiting for
him to ask. But really, it didn't matter. He still didn't trust her, but he
could use her, and that was enough for now.
"I'll send you the revised schedules," he said, getting to his feet. "I think
Rodney will have a few more addresses, and, unfortunately, we need to go to
Larish."
"Really?"
"There was a research lab on the planet once, and there's probably some
information in their library."
"You mean you've never looked? The Larish collect information; they have an
army of scribes taking down everything they can from travelers and they loot
libraries on worlds that have been culled. I thought you knew."
"Not until Rodney found mention of it somewhere." He sighed. "Okay, fine, if
there's anything else I should know, any information that might lead to a ZPM
or Ancient weapons research, send me a memo. And...copy it to Rodney."
"He is a busy boy," she murmured.
John just rolled his eyes and stood up. "Speaking of boys," he said. "at some
point soon, probably after we go to Larish, I'll be recalling someone from
Bespin. If he thinks you're a contact, you better tell me everything he says."
She leaned forward. "Are you going to interrogate him?"
"Me? Not exactly," John said and then smiled a little. "But he will be
questioned. If it's any good, I'll send you a copy."
===============================================================================
"We're going to Larish," Sheppard said as Rodney came out of the shower a few
nights later. "Tomorrow."
"We as in the team or we...."
"We as in the team and you."
Rodney tried to ignore the twist in his stomach. Surely Sheppard was right; no
one on Larish would be likely to grab at him again. "I have a couple more
addresses," he said. "If you give me a little more time...."
"Enough." Sheppard didn't look pleased, and Rodney shut his mouth quickly.
Sheppard had been edgier than usual for the last couple of days. Actually, if
Rodney was being honest, Sheppard had been on edge ever since he'd talked to
his team about breaking from Earth.
"Sorry," Rodney murmured, wondering if he should go down on his knees again.
"It's all right," Sheppard said. He was sitting in bed reading a journal; now
he put it down and watched as Rodney finished drying his hair. "You have a
right to be nervous, but believe me: nothing is going to happen."
"Why...um, may I ask a question, Sir?"
"Yeah."
"Why am I going? Do you really think I'll be able to find something in the
library that Jeannie can't?"
"You've spent enough time on the database, you've probably got a really good
eye for gate addresses. Another pair of trained eyes can't hurt."
"Will I have to dress up again?"
"You did look pretty," Sheppard said. "But no. You'll be with us the entire
time." He yawned and patted the bed next to him. "C'mon, tomorrow's an early
start."
                                     * * *
Larish's seasons matched with Atlantis's and so it was winter on Larish as
well; in addition to the Headwoman and her people, the team and their guards
were met by servants carrying warm coats edged with soft fur. An honor guard
held a large canopy over them until they reached the palace, and Rodney was a
little startled at different everything looked covered in a thick blanket of
snow.
After Sheppard and Teyla explained why they were there, everyone had to turn
around and go back out in the cold as they were led to the temple. Rodney had
expected something that looked like a mosque, and so he was surprised to find a
simple building that was obviously a lot older than the rest of what he'd seen
on Larish.
"You will be the guests of the Matriarch," the Headwoman explained as an older
woman wearing plain clothing bowed to them. No one, Rodney noticed with relief,
was looking at him.
"Welcome to our Temple," the Matriarch said, looking a little worried. "We have
set aside a hall for you, but our people live simple lives."
"That will be acceptable," Teyla said.
"Simple," Sheppard muttered once they were alone in a big, cold room. "Spartan,
more like." There was a common area with big pillows for sitting on and a big
ceramic stove and then two rows of single beds. It wasn't much, but it was
spacious and the beds looked vaguely comfortable; Rodney wasn't sure what
Sheppard's problem was. Surely he'd spent time in worse situations.
As Namin made a fire and people claimed beds, Sheppard steered Rodney toward
the far end of the hall.
"Okay," Sheppard said. "If we're attacked, you stay back. You try anything
heroic and I'll have you up on discipline, you understand?
"Yes, Sir," Rodney murmured. Maybe that was it; maybe the room wasn't very
defensible.
                                     * * *
The first day in the temple passed fairly quickly for Rodney. Sheppard had been
right--no one so much as looked at Rodney, even the librarians who brought
scrolls and books to him were careful around him. It was weird, but Rodney
didn't really care, because, God, here he was in an alien library reading moldy
old books and scrolls from other planets and how cool was that?
He couldn't read Ancient as well as Jeannie or Teyla or Namin could, but he was
mostly working his way through works they'd seen first looking for gate
addresses. It was a weird mix of boring and fascinating and Rodney was so
focused that their breaks for both lunch and dinner came as a surprise.
That first night was even stranger. Rodney was used to sleeping with Sheppard
in a decent sized bed, and he ended up tossing and turning for a good part of
the night. He was grumpy the next morning, even though they'd brought coffee
with them.
The rest of the second day passed much as the first had. Rodney found several
addresses and scanned the documents they were part of for further research back
home. While he wasn't exactly expecting to find something labeled "this way to
the ZPM," it was still disappointing that he hadn't even seen mention of one.
Of course, no one in Pegasus seems to know exactly what a ZPM is, he thought.
I'll bet the Ancients didn't go around telling lesser humans about their power
systems, even if said lesser mortals could have understood them.
After lunch on the third day, as he was about to return with the others to the
library, Sheppard grabbed his arm and pulled him aside. "Didn't you say there
was actually a lab here on Larish?"
"I said there might be," Rodney replied.
"Good, let's go look for it."
"But what about...."
"Are you questioning my orders?" Sheppard made a dismissive gesture. "Jeannie
said they'll be done by the end of the day, and then, of course, there's a
fucking banquet. C'mon."
As they went through the gate to Atlantis, Rodney wondered if Sheppard was
antsy for another reason; he'd gone without sex for three days. After all, so
had Rodney, and he was feeling it; the moment Sheppard grabbed his arm he'd
gotten hard.
But no, Sheppard just took him up to the jumper bay, and a few minutes later,
they were heading back though the gate to Larish. After circling the city,
Sheppard took the jumper up into orbit.
"So," Rodney said. "What do you look for?"
"Energy readings, mostly," Sheppard said. "Jeannie usually does this part, but
it's easy enough." He touched a few keys and then was silent as he read the
console and flew the jumper.
Rodney had been up in jumpers a few times since that first time all those
months ago and now he remembered Sheppard telling him that it never got old.
He'd been right, Rodney thought, watching the stars with eager eyes.
"There we go," Sheppard said. A map came up on the HUD, showing a smallish
island almost halfway around the world from the continent the Larish lived on.
Sheppard pointed at a bright spot on it. "See that? There's some kind of
Ancient tech there."
"We're not going to go check it out, are we?"
"No," Sheppard said. "It's way too dangerous with just two people. The Ancients
had a way of booby trapping things. I'll take the team out later; we'll look
into it."
He turned in his chair and the HUD disappeared, leaving a clear view of the
starfield. "I just had to get out of that fucking library before I died of
boredom."
"I kind of enjoyed it," Rodney said. "Although...."
"What?" Sheppard leaned back and looked at him and Rodney smiled.
"I'm afraid all my bruises are fading, Sir."
"Oh, really? We can't have that." Sheppard patted his lap. "Drop your pants and
your shorts...."
Sheppard's hand was warm on Rodney's ass as he stroked it. "I'm glad all your
pants are too big," he said while Rodney squirmed a little. "Because really,
your ass is an invitation to sex."
"Anyone else so much as touches it and I'll shoot them," Rodney said, already a
little breathless. Three days without sex and he was already so incredibly
turned on; he wasn't sure he could even remember back to when he'd go months
with nothing but his own hand.
"Aren't you fierce?" Sheppard murmured, sliding his fingers down the crack of
Rodney's ass. Rodney moaned and spread his legs a little, doing his best not to
just hump Sheppard's leg. "And fucking greedy too."
"Please?" Rodney asked, shivering as Sheppard kept his touch light. "Please,
Sir?"
The faint pressure of Sheppard's fingers on his skin was enough of a warning;
Rodney braced himself as Sheppard pinched him hard, high on the inside of his
thigh. Rodney yelped and twisted on Sheppard's lap.
"Thought you wanted bruises," Sheppard said. Before Rodney could say anything,
the pain came again as Sheppard pinched up another bit of skin and twisted.
"Hurts, doesn't it?"
"It does," Rodney gasped out. "God...hurts so much...more?"
"Fuck," Sheppard snarled as he did it again. "That's my boy." He pinched Rodney
again and then again and then, just when Rodney really started to shake and try
to get away, he stopped.
"As soon as we have a night at home, I'm going to tie you down and go down
there and bite those marks until they're swollen and dark and purple and hurt
every time I brush a finger over them." He chuckled and ran a hand over
Rodney's ass. "Now, however...."
It didn't matter that Rodney was expecting it, he still cried out loudly when
Sheppard's hand landed on his ass. Sheppard wasn't holding anything back and
his hand slammed down on Rodney's ass over and over in a hard fast rhythm that
hurt like fuck.
"Go on boy...tell me you want it," Sheppard growled.
"I do...please please Sir...love it when you spank me."
"Yeah?"
"God, yes," Rodney said, lifting his ass in time with Sheppard's blows. It hurt
like crazy, possibly because every time he moved, the bruises Sheppard had
pinched up on his thighs twinged, and Rodney was a little surprised at how
close to tears he was.
He tried then, tried to bring them on, thinking about how afraid he'd been to
go back to Larish, how frightened he been last time they'd been there.... With
a soft little hiccup, he finally started crying, and if Sheppard wanted to
think it was because of the spanking, then fine. But really, this wasn't for
Sheppard, this was for Rodney himself, because he needed it.
"Good boy," Sheppard said, spanking him again and again. "That's my good
boy...."
"Please," Rodney gasped out. "Please please please fuck me...."
Sheppard's fingers were wet when he shoved two of them into Rodney, but Rodney
knew it was just spit and that it would hurt when Sheppard actually fucked him.
He was right--it burned like hell when he finally straddled Sheppard's lap and
sank down on his dick--but Rodney didn't care at all; he wanted it to hurt,
needed it to. He rode Sheppard hard and for the first time he really felt like
he was using Sheppard to get rid of his own stress and anxiety.
It was a dangerous line of thought, but fortunately, Sheppard was busy getting
off on Rodney's tears; he slid a hand up into Rodney's hair and pulled him down
so he could lick at Rodney's face. It was strange, but somewhere along the line
Rodney had gotten used to it, and now it was even a little comforting.
"Go on," Sheppard murmured, his lips rough against Rodney's cheek. "Come for
me." And that was weird too--the way those words from that voice did it for
Rodney; he moved down on Sheppard's cock and came hard, his whole body shaking
with it.
Sheppard must have been a little stressed, too; Rodney was still shuddering
through the aftershocks when Sheppard grabbed his hips and came, his mouth
moving on Rodney's face. It was shockingly intimate and close and when Rodney
wrapped his arms around Sheppard and just hung on, Sheppard let him.
Much later, after they'd tidied up and were preparing to return to the city,
Sheppard gave him a long look.
"Do I have come on my pants?" Rodney asked, pretty sure he didn't.
Sheppard snorted. "No. I just wanted to warn you. When we're done with the
Larish mission, I'm having them recall that kid."
"Oh."
"Don't sweat it," Sheppard said dryly. "I'm going to let you have him."
Blinking, Rodney tried to make sense of that. "What?"
"I told you I want you to question him."
"Well, yeah, but...do you mean what I think you do, Sir?"
"Don't tell me you've never wanted to fuck someone."
"I did," Rodney said. "There was this girl in school...April, her name was. She
needed help with an assignment, so we made a deal."
"A guy."
Rodney shrugged. "I got blown a few times, but I was usually more interested in
finding some guy who would fuck me."
Leaning back in his chair, Sheppard looked at him. "An older guy?"
"Well, yeah. The guys at school mostly wanted to beat me up, and at the time I
didn't think that was such a good idea." He laughed. "In retrospect, it
wouldn't have been such a good idea."
"Oh?"
"I'm sure you could actually beat me with your fists and make me like it, but
those boys? No thanks."
"Well here's your chance to get something back," Sheppard said, and then turned
to the jumper controls, leaving Rodney to wonder if that's how it had started
for Sheppard.
It actually made a kind of sense; for all that he was rangy and tall and pretty
damn buff for someone over forty, Sheppard wasn't all that big. He'd probably
been kind of skinny as a kid and even going to whatever exclusive prep school
he'd attended wouldn't have kept him from getting bullied. In Rodney's case,
explosives had been his answer to bullies; in Sheppard's case? He'd probably
just learned to beat the crap out of people.
And then maybe even fuck them?
It was a disturbingly hot image--Sheppard fucking some prep school jerk, maybe
with the other boy tied up and gagged and hating it. And fine, maybe, just
maybe, Rodney could see himself doing that.
Rodney was very quiet on the flight back to Atlantis.
                                     * * *
The Larish banquet that evening was good for one thing: Ellah danced. After,
Rodney beckoned her over and she came and knelt down next to him, bowing so low
to Sheppard that her head touched the ground.
"I'm so glad to see you," she said very quietly. "With everything that
happened...we were afraid for weeks."
"Did you know about the coup attempt?"
"We heard there had been shooting near the gate, but everyone inside the palace
was in an uproar and so no one really paid much attention to what was going on
outside. Some of Warleader Kamil's people tried to rescue her because they
thought the Headwoman had come up with an excuse to depose her."
"Really?"
She nodded. "That's why the Headwoman had her executed. Of course, when she
told people what Kamil had done, and even some of the Opposition who had been
at the banquet confirmed it, the troops calmed down. No one wants to anger
Colonel Sheppard; I don't know why someone tried to overthrow him."
"They didn't get very far," Rodney said. It was weird to remember it now, the
way it had all hinged on him. Or maybe it hadn't; Sheppard probably could have
gotten out of it somehow. At the time, however, it had seemed that only Rodney
could free him.
The choice had been amazingly easy to make.
"No," Ellah said. "We were shown what happened to Major Lorne and his allies."
She shivered a little and glanced at Sheppard, who was talking quietly to
Ronon.
"So," Rodney said, in an effort to lighten things up a little. "How's your plan
for freedom coming along?"
She smiled and almost bounced in place. "I have a patron, and in a way, it's
thanks to you."
"Oh?"
She gestured toward slim woman in familiar looking armor at a table across the
room. "Warleader Ilish. She doesn't like men at all, even pretty ones like
you."
Rodney rolled his eyes. "Obviously, she has excellent taste in girls."
"Clearly." Ellah laughed. "She buys jewelry and clothes for me and I dance at
her banquets."
"How does that work? Can she just buy you?"
"She could, but I think she's courting me."
"Do you like her?"
Ellah paused and thought about it. "I think I do. And even if I didn't, the
Headwoman only keeps me for her guests. Warleader Ilish has a great deal of
power and influence. And...." She glanced around and then leaned in close to
whisper in Rodney's ear. "She likes me to tie her up, can you imagine?"
"Oh, I think I can. From the other side, of course."
"She gave me a pillow book about it; it's very beautiful even if it's mostly
pictures of men."
After glancing at Sheppard, Rodney looked at Ellah thoughtfully. "Do you think
I could buy a copy of it?"
"I imagine so. I could find out how much it would cost, and perhaps in the next
trading mission, a deal could be worked out."
"I'll talk to Teyla about it," Rodney said.
"I would like to correspond with you, if Colonel Sheppard would allow it."
Having his own connection on Larish might not be a bad thing, Rodney thought.
Particularly someone who was close to both the Warleader and the Headwoman's
household. That Ellah was probably thinking roughly the same thing was fine
with Rodney.
"I'd like that," he said.
There was a lull in the conversation between Sheppard and Ronon, and to
Rodney's surprise, Ellah leaned forward and very deftly got Sheppard's
attention.
"Who are you?"
"This is Ellah, Sir. She's the girl who did me up last time," Rodney said.
"Okay," Sheppard said. "What can I do for you?"
"I just wanted to give Rodney a hug, Colonel."
Rodney's face went hot and Sheppard smirked. "Feel free," he said.
Ellah smelled good--it was one of the scents Rodney had rejected when he'd been
here before--and she rubbed her cheek against Rodney's for a brief moment
before pulling back. "I should go."
"Take care," Rodney said.
"Nice," Ronon said, watching her walk away.
"Don't poach Rodney's girlfriend," Jeannie said, elbowing Ronon in the ribs.
"Not if you know what's good for you."
                                     * * *
"What was all that on Larish?" Sheppard asked, much later that night, after
they'd returned to Atlantis. He didn't sound too upset so Rodney just shrugged.
"She's one of the Headwoman's slaves, but the new Warleader likes her a lot.
She wanted to know if we could communicate. If it's okay with you."
"Do you want her?" Sheppard asked with a smirk.
"What? No." Rodney shook his head. "Not hardly. I just thought it might be nice
to have a contact who was outside of any deals Teyla or Dr. Weir make."
"Not a bad idea. Talk to Teyla about it; she handles some of the contact with
the Larish. I'm sure she could set something up with your little pen pal."
Rodney rolled his eyes and Sheppard just laughed.
The next morning as they were finishing breakfast, Rodney leaned toward Teyla.
"May I speak to you about some trading?" he asked.
"Of course, Rodney. Walk with me to my rooms."
Rodney had never been to Teyla's suite before; it was larger than Sheppard's,
with what looked like a real living room. She waved to one of the couches and
settled on the other. "You wish to trade with the young lady on Larish?"
"Yeah. She told me about this book...um, it's a pillow book. I wanted to get a
copy and maybe give it to Colonel Sheppard." Rodney tried to ignore the blush
he knew was covering his face. "I just don't know what we trade or if I even
have...um, any money or shares or whatever."
"You are in an unusual situation," she said. "You have a department that does
not show up on anyone's books and does not have a budget. Dr. Mullins is still
part of Sciences and Corporal Philips is still on the military payroll."
Rodney was suddenly struck by a thought. "About that--does Namin actually get
paid? And if he does, can I get him a raise or a bonus or something? Because
he's not just standing around protecting me any more."
"I pay my people in trade markers, and yes, he gets more than Rath does. In
fact, I have been considering talking to John about giving you another day time
bodyguard, but you would probably put them to work as well."
"Only if I trusted them."
She nodded. "It is something to think about. As for you--you have never needed
a salary and have never attempted to trade, but I see no problem in making this
small trade on your behalf. I will, however, speak to John and Elizabeth about
setting up a trading account for you."
"Thank you," Rodney said, and wow, this was kind of cool.
"I also wanted to know if there was a way for me to correspond with Ellah on
Larish," he added.
Before he could explain why, Teyla nodded. "I am in communication with the
Headwoman's servant, Tashin. She is a good contact, but I believe it would be
wise for us to have someone in the Warleader's household as well. If you write
a letter, I will see that it is delivered and that you get the reply."
"Thank you, Ma'am," Rodney said again. "I really do appreciate it. If there's
anything I can do for you...."
"You already have. I was worried about what we were going to do with Namin, and
you have given him a place."
"Well, he's pretty smart," Rodney said. "I'm lucky to have him."
                                     * * *
Two days later, Rodney was in his lab making his way through the information
Jeannie brought back from the Sanctum on M19-984. It really had been a weapons
research outpost, and it seemed they'd even been working on drone research.
Rodney was riveted to his console, desperately hoping he'd find something that
would lead him to the drone plant he was sure existed somewhere on Atlantis.
If only if I could find a freakin' city map. But then again, no one had ever
found a map of the city; along with ZPMs it was the closest thing the
Expedition had to the Holy Grail. If Rodney could find it, Sheppard
would...well, he'd probably beat Rodney in celebration, but still, it'd be a
better present than the Larish bondage book.
Behind him, Philips and Mullins were settling in for the day; while normally
Rodney would ignore them, today they were quieter than usual.
"Do you think," Philips began, and then trailed off when he realized Rodney was
paying attention to him.
"What's up?"
"Oh...nothing...." Phillips said.
Rodney folded his arms and glared at both of them. "You know, if I find out
that there is something going on and you didn't tell me about it, I'm not going
to be happy."
"Um...."
"Oh, for God's sake, stop stammering," Mullins said, turning her back on
Phillips. "A couple of the people sent to the mines have been called back,
including that pretty boy."
"Don't you all have something better to do than gossip?" Rodney snapped,
turning back to his console. He settled in, hunching his shoulders a little.
He'd told Sheppard that he wouldn't be pretending, but now he thought about the
conversations they'd had since then and thought that maybe, just maybe, he
trusted Sheppard.
Oh, sure, Sheppard might fuck Alexander, but he was pretty sure Alexander
wouldn't replace Rodney in Sheppard's life.
Pretty sure, Rodney thought, resisting the temptation to spy on Sheppard. He
wasn't entirely certain the city would let him do it without notifying Sheppard
in some way, and that was a confrontation he didn't want to have.
Try to trust him, Rodney told himself. He trusts you these days.
Still, he was irritable for the rest of the morning, and it wasn't entirely an
act. It didn't help when he went to the range that afternoon; the conversation
trailed off as he came into the room, and it was hard to pretend he didn't know
what they'd all been talking about.
He didn't let it affect his shooting. In fact, he went for it, shooting round
after round until his target was one big hole, and then he reeled the target in
and set up another one. It helped more than he expected, and by the time he'd
shot the hell out of the second target he was feeling a lot better.
"Nice shooting," Corporal Baumgarten said as Rodney pulled off his ear
protection and stepped back.
"It's been a day," Rodney said, looking around. "Not that I'm complaining, mind
you."
"You never complain," one of the Marines, a big guy named Mike, said.
"You've obviously mistaken me for someone else," Rodney replied, sitting down
to clean his gun. "I bitch all the time."
"Everyone does that," Baumgarten said, reaching for her water bottle. "You
don't sweat the big stuff."
Rodney shrugged. "Not much I can do about it."
"This is Atlantis," she said, softly enough that he could barely hear her.
"Accidents happen all the time."
Keeping his head down, Rodney smirked just a little and remained silent.
                                     * * *
"So," Sheppard said, shoving Rodney up against the wall as soon as they reached
their quarters after dinner. "How many people told you that Alexander was in my
office today?"
"Mullins mentioned it; the guys on the range were obviously talking about it,
although not where I could hear, and I got an anonymous email from one of
Keller's nurses, of all people," Rodney replied, a little breathless because
Sheppard was pushing his leg between Rodney's thighs. "Did you fuck him?"
"You sound like you'd think it was hot." Sheppard pressed harder and Rodney
moaned. "You want to see that, boy?"
"I dunno," Rodney said, giving up and grinding against Sheppard's thigh the way
Sheppard wanted him to. "Maybe if you hurt him...." And weirdly enough, the
thought was kind of hot. But only, he thought, if Alexander hated it.
"You little pervert," Sheppard said with a hoarse laugh. He slide a hand up
under Rodney's t-shirt and twisted one of his nipple rings.
"I'm what you...ohhhh...made me." The words escaped before Rodney could help
and he froze.
Sheppard leaned back a little and looked at him. "I find that hard to believe."
"I...." Rodney leaned his head against the wall with a thunk. "I never thought
about it before," he finally said. "I hated plenty of people, but...."
"You just killed them or blew their shit up." Sheppard tweaked Rodney's nipple
again. "But now you want to see people hurting?"
"Some people," Rodney said, raising his chin. "I'm not like...I don't want it
all the time, or with you, or anything like that. I don't even know if it's
about sex for me."
"You know that if you go after anyone without my permission...."
"I'm not...of course not, Sir."
Sheppard pushed his leg up again and twisted the nipple ring. "You're not
what?"
"Stupid," Rodney said. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be disrespectful."
To Rodney's relief, Sheppard just laughed. "No, you're not stupid. And I'm done
talking about Alexander." He put his other hand on Rodney's hip and tugged a
little. "C'mon, boy, do it."
Rodney obeyed, feeling his face go hot. Even as he rubbed off against
Sheppard's leg, he wondered if he'd ever get over the faint humiliation he felt
when Sheppard did things like this. Then again, maybe I don't want to. Because
if he was being honest with himself, he liked feeling that little twist of hot
embarrassment in his stomach whenever Sheppard made him do something
humiliating.
Maybe I reallyama pervert.
"After you come," Sheppard said, leaning in close so that his breath was hot on
Rodney's cheek, "I'm going to fuck you until you come again."
Some day, Rodney hoped, his hormones would settle down and he wouldn't have
this fucking hair trigger. Today, however...he moaned loudly and shoved against
Sheppard's thigh until his dick ached. It was more than enough, and he came
hard.
Sheppard actually gave him a moment to catch his breath, but even before he
made a move, Rodney was going to his knees and reaching for Sheppard's fly.
"Thought I said I wanted to fuck you," Sheppard said, bracing a hand against
the wall as Rodney licked at his cock.
"Just getting you wet enough," Rodney mumbled.
"Fuck!" Sheppard's hips snapped forward as Rodney slid his mouth down over
Sheppard's dick. He kept it sloppy, but Sheppard didn't seem to care, and for a
moment Rodney wondered if Sheppard would change his mind and just come down
Rodney's throat.
But no; when Rodney pulled back and looked up, Sheppard grinned down at him.
"Get that ass in the air, boy."
"Yes, Sir," Rodney said, undoing his pants. He wrinkled his nose a little as he
shoved them and his damp boxers down around his thighs, but a moment later, as
Sheppard's cock pushed into him, hard, sticky underwear wasn't that big a deal.
It hurt, of course, but it was a familiar pain and Rodney welcomed it. Sheppard
was fucking him hard and fast and Rodney was pretty sure that meant he hadn't
gotten off earlier in the day. While Sheppard was more than capable of getting
it up two or even three times a day, he tended to be a little more inventive
and a lot less hurried the second or third time around.
Sheppard rested his hand on the back of Rodney's collar, pressing down hard.
"Mine," he growled as Rodney moaned and pushed back against Sheppard's thrusts.
The position pressed his cheek against the floor and his neck hurt and, of
course Rodney was hard again. All of it, everything they did, came down to
this--Sheppard fucking him, claiming him. And yes, Rodney loved it, needed it.
"Go on, boy," Sheppard snarled, sounding almost desperate. "Come for me."
"Yours," Rodney gasped out as he came. "All...yours...."
"Fuck...mine!"
Much later, when the lights were out and they had settled in bed, Sheppard slid
a hand up Rodney's chest to the collar.
"Give it a few more days," he said, his fingers brushing Rodney's neck as he
toyed with the smooth leather. "I'm going to look smug, but since I'm not
actually fucking the kid, you're going to have to make it up to me."
"Such a hardship," Rodney murmured, and Sheppard chuckled.
                                     * * *
The next few days were pretty awful. No one came out and told Rodney that both
Sheppard and Alexander were spending a lot of time holed up in Sheppard's
office, but he received several emails and just happened to overhear people
talking about it.
He wasn't sure what was worse, ignorant fools sending emails that were anything
but anonymous or the people he overheard. The people emailing him meant well,
but anyone who thought Rodney couldn't find out where an anonymous email came
from was too stupid to be of much use to him as an ally. On the other hand, the
people gossiping where he could hear them usually sounded pleased that he was
being replaced.
Rodney said nothing about either group to anyone, but he started keeping a
couple of lists in the back of his mind and on the small, hidden database he'd
set up inside the Ancient systems. Someday he'd need to know who was on his
side and who wasn't.
He was a little surprised how annoyed he was with the fact no one blamed
Sheppard for fooling around with a new boy. But it was only to be expected;
even if people had issues with Sheppard, not only were they not going to
badmouth him around Rodney, but, these days, they weren't going to badmouth him
around anyone.
So Rodney kept his head down and, in addition to working on his various
projects, he did a little scouting around the city using the internal security
systems. Once he'd found the perfect spot, he made his plans and then, smiling
a satisfied smile, went back to work.
"Now," he told Sheppard early one morning. "I'm going to skip my run and go
after him now, while you're off with Ronon."
Sheppard took a deep breath and then ran a hand across Rodney's cheek. "Where
are you going to do this?"
"There's a place, an abandoned med lab," Rodney explained, leaning into
Sheppard's touch. "I set up the security cameras to record everything that
happens there."
"Good boy." Sheppard paused and then gestured at the footlocker. "Take what you
need."
"Thank you, Sir." Rodney turned his head and kissed Sheppard's hand. Sheppard
slapped him lightly and then took off for his run.
Rodney hadn't counted on being able to use any of Sheppard's things, and now he
looked at the top of the footlocker, not sure he wanted to open it. It had
never been locked, but
he'd been told to keep out of it, and although it wasn't easy, he'd never let
his curiosity get him into trouble. Shaking his head, he left the footlocker
alone. He didn't want any of the things Sheppard used on him to be mixed up in
this.
Alexander had been given a small room in the hall near Sheppard's office. This
early, there was no one around as Rodney and Namin approached the door.
"Rodney," Namin said quietly, once he realized where they were going. "Are you
really going to do this? Won't Colonel Sheppard be...."
"I know what I'm doing," Rodney said firmly. He thought about explaining things
to Namin, but no. Rodney had no idea if anyone was watching this corridor, but
if he were spying on Sheppard, this was one of the places he'd monitor.
Alexander turned out to be a light sleeper; he sat up in bed as the door closed
behind Rodney. "What...?"
"Shut the fuck up," Rodney snarled, stalking over to the bed. Alexander's eyes
went wide as he realized just who'd woken him up.
"I didn't...he hasn't...."
Rodney reached out and slapped him hard. "I'm going to say this once, so pay
attention. If I tell you to do something, you do it. If you don't...." He
smiled tightly. "Now throw on some clothes and come on."
He had to slap Alexander a few more times before they could finally head out
and Namin all but dragged Alexander down the hall to the transporter. Rodney
checked his lifesigns detector over and over, but no one saw them and he
breathed a sigh of relief once the transporter doors closed. On one hand, he
kind of wanted it to get around that he'd dealt with Alexander. On the other
hand, if Alexander had a contact in the city, the last thing Rodney wanted to
do was pique their interest.
The moment the door to the old lab closed behind them, Alexander started
talking again. "Look," he said. "I promise...he wouldn't let me do
anything....he hasn't touched me!"
"I know," Rodney said. He pointed at an examination table. "Put him on that,
face down for now, and use the cuffs."
"No, wait...what?!" Alexander yelled as Namin wrestled him into position.
"Good," Rodney said, once Alexander was secure.
Putting a hand on Namin's arm, Rodney led him to a corner so they could speak
without Alexander hearing them. "First of all, relax," he said. "Colonel
Sheppard knows what's going on and he's okay with it. He'll probably be along
in a little while."
"Why is he having you do it?"
"I don't ask him questions like that," Rodney said. He knew why, of course. Or
at least he thought he did. Part of it had to do with Sheppard's campaign to
toughen him up. It was a weird thought, and he still wasn't sure what to make
of it. The rest of it was about the sex; Rodney wondered if this was some kind
of test to see if Rodney got off on it the way Sheppard did.
I wonder what a win would be--liking it or not?
"Anyway," he continued. "I'm going to ask him some questions, find out who he
was supposed to report to."
"Okay," Namin said, and Rodney gripped him on the shoulder, knowing that Namin
would probably have said "okay" if Rodney had said he was doing this without
Sheppard's permission.
"So," he said, moving back over to the examination table. "You're telling me
Sheppard hasn't laid a hand on you?"
"He hasn't, I swear it!"
"And you were sent to Atlantis...why?"
"I'm part of the resistance."
Rodney snorted. "I very much doubt that," he said. "I think you're a spy and I
think you're here to seduce Colonel Sheppard."
"I'm not! I wasn't...."
"Do you know what your superiors back on Earth let you in for?" Rodney pulled
his utility knife from its sheath.
Alexander's clothes were thin in places and Rodney wondered if he had more than
one set to wear. Oh well, he thought and sliced his way up one leg and then the
other. He was pleased that he'd managed to cut Alexander's jeans and his
underwear off without so much as scratching his skin.
"Did they tell you that the colonel likes pretty boys?" Rodney smacked
Alexander's ass with the flat of his blade. "Did they tell you what he does to
them?"
"No one told me anything!"
"I could show you," Rodney said. "You know, give you a few friendly pointers."
"Why are you doing this?"
Rodney smiled, remembering Sheppard's reply to that question back when Rodney
was first on Atlantis.
"Because I can. Because I want to. Because you're young and pretty and
terrified. Because I can tell how much you want it."
He was pretty sure Alexander didn't want this, but, honestly, the fact that
Alexander was young and pretty didn't mean that much to Rodney.
"Because I can," he said. "Because I want to."
"You don't have to...I haven't done anything."
"My parents were part of a resistance group," Rodney said casually as he put
the knife back in its sheath. "They died in a mysterious car accident." He
paused, undoing his belt and pulling it out of the loops on his jeans. The
knife went on a nearby equipment cart and Rodney folded the belt over. "I'd
turned them in, of course."
He snapped the belt and Alexander tensed. "So you see, as far as I'm concerned,
you don't have to have done anything other than that. Although I'm pretty sure
you were never in a resistance cell or group."
Taking a deep breath, he slammed the doubled over belt down onto Alexander's
ass. "This is what they let you in for," he said and did it again.
"Ow! Fuck!"
"Don't be a baby. This is an average night in Colonel Sheppard's quarters." As
he spoke he beat Alexander in time with his words. "Dinner, a little chess and
then some ass beating."
He fell silent after that; Alexander was yelling and twisting in the
restraints, but Rodney knew damn well that he wasn't going to get anything out
of him like this. Even if Alexander was just an untrained kid and not an actual
State spy, this was nothing.
Well, Rodney thought as he brought the belt down again. Not nothing, because I
can sure as hell chalk this up to a learning experience. What he'd learned was
that he wasn't actually turned on by this. It felt good in a way, it made him
feel a little less jealous, but it wasn't hot, even when he started leaving
welts.
He finally stopped when Alexander's yells turned into a soft hitching noise.
When Rodney realized what he was hearing--he'd made Alexander cry--he waited
for some kind of feeling. But whatever it was that got Sheppard off, whatever
made his eyes go dark and his face soften just a little when Rodney cried,
didn't seem to be present in Rodney.
So that's that, then. I'm not a sadist.
"If I were Sheppard," he said, going to the head of the table, "you'd soon be
crying for a different reason."
Of course, if I were Sheppard, I'd also be really distracted.
"Anyway, I'm not at all convinced that those tears of yours are real," he
continued.
"Fuck you," Alexander snarled. "You hurt me and made me fucking cry and now
you...."
Rodney reached out and patted his damp cheek. "Oh trust me, I know it hurts. I
didn't do anything to you that hasn't been done to me. Yet," he added, thinking
about the Ancient taser in his pocket. He'd grabbed it out of the armory, but,
while he wasn't supposed to have one, he didn't think Sheppard would mind.
"I just don't think it's that big a deal to you. If I were looking for someone
to distract Colonel Sheppard, I'd pick a boy with a high pain threshold and
good acting skills."
"I'm not a spy," Alexander said and Rodney laughed.
"Bullshit." He slammed the belt down another dozen times, while Alexander cried
and twisted in the restraints. "The question is...do you really have what it
takes to distract the colonel?"
He glanced over at Namin as he put his belt down on the equipment cart. "Time
to flip him over and find out."
With Namin's help, he got Alexander's shirt off and then they strapped him to
the table again.
"Huh, thought so," Rodney said with a dismissive glance at Alexander's crotch;
he wasn't hard, but then, Rodney hadn't expected him to be. The really
interesting thing was that Alexander wasn't blushing even though he was
stretched out naked in front of someone who wanted to hurt him.
Frowning, Rodney spent a long moment looking at Alexander's face. Alexander
stared back defiantly, but it wasn't his expression Rodney was concerned with.
The more he looked at Alexander the more he reminded Rodney of the actor who
played Erin McCall's brother on Security Watch. Terry McCall was supposed to be
your average teenager, but Rodney remembered reading that the guy who played
him--Tom somebody? something with a W?--was in his mid-20s.
The more Rodney looked at Alexander, the more he was convinced he was looking
at someone a good ten years older than Rodney himself was.
"How old are you?"
"Sixteen," Alexander said and it sounded natural but then if he was a spy, he'd
be good at this kind of thing.
"Really?" Rodney said, skeptically. He paused and then shrugged. "If you say
so.... Now, where were we?"
"You were going to let me go," Alexander said. "I can't believe you think
you'll get away with this."
"Really?" Rodney grabbed his knife, flicking the sheath off easily. "I could
cut your fucking throat and no one would do a thing. Not that I will, of
course. I still have some questions."
"I don't know anything!" Alexander's eyes were green and they were wide; he was
probably hoping to convince Rodney that he was afraid. "And I swear...the
colonel hasn't touched me!"
"You don't need to keep saying that," Rodney said, trailing the point of his
knife down Alexander's chest from his neck to his navel. "I know damn well he
hasn't laid a hand on you. Which means, sadly, that you kind of suck at your
job."
The point of the knife moved back up, leaving a white line that turned to red
as Rodney watched it.
"I can't imagine the people back on Earth are going to be very pleased with you
now." Rodney snorted. "They screwed up, you know. They were going off
what...something the late, unlamented Major Lorne told them? That the colonel
likes boys who are fragile? Boys that aren't perverts?"
"I don't know anything about what the colonel likes."
"More bullshit," Rodney said. He pressed harder this time, watching with
curiosity as small beads of blood welled up in the wake of the knife point.
"Don't!"
"Oh, stop it!" Rodney snapped. "I'm not buying that big-eyed scared look any
more than Sheppard would."
"I don't know what you want," Alexander said, tears leaking from the corner of
his eyes.
God, he cries easily. Good thing Sheppard doesn't know about that.
"I want to know who sent you and who you were supposed to report to here on
Atlantis."
"I'm not...."
Rodney put the knife aside and slapped Alexander hard and then backhanded him
even harder. It was enough to split Alexander's lip and Rodney was pretty sure
he'd have bruises to show for it. Surprised at his own strength, he did it
again and then again. "You don't really have much aside from the ability to
take pain and to look like you're sixteen."
He rubbed his own nose, feeling the minuscule bump in it. "I could break your
nose," he said, conversationally. "I could carve your pretty face up until all
anyone saw were the scars."
For the first time, he saw a glint of what looked like genuine fear in
Alexander's eyes.
"But no, I don't think that would get me what I'm looking for. You're obviously
worried about your looks, but I'm really going to need to hurt you to get real
results."
He slammed the knife down hard, driving it into the padded examination table
less than two centimeters away from Alexander's neck. Alexander hardly flinched
and Rodney smiled just a little.
I'd have been terrified if someone did that to me, but he knows I'm not going
to kill him right off. Totally a spy. He turned away for a moment, aware that
he wasn't doing the best job. It's not like Sheppard and Ronon have given me
classes in Torture...no, Questioning 101.
Turning back to the table, he held up the taser. "My sister's scientists have a
choice when it comes to punishment. They can take a military beating or they
can have this. They usually take this, probably because Colonel Sheppard would
be the one delivering the flogging, and trust me, he's really good at it."
"What is it?" Alexander looked at it nervously.
Rodney had read the specs of the taser and he'd spent some time getting used to
its controls. Now he dialed it to deliver moderate pain and pressed it hard
against Alexander's closest bicep. The result was more than satisfactory;
Alexander yelled and arched against the restraints.
"Now we're getting somewhere," Rodney murmured and dialed it up a little
higher. This time, he jabbed it against Alexander's hip, and this time,
Alexander actually let out a scream. "Apparently it hurts more if I use it
against a less padded part of your body." He held it up, making a production of
dialing it up again.
"Hit him with it two more times," a voice said in his headset and Rodney nearly
jumped out of his skin. It was Sheppard, but still, Rodney felt his heart pound
in his chest. "Don't dial it up any more."
To cover up his surprise, he pressed the taser to the thin, pale inside of
Alexander's elbow and held it there while Alexander screamed and writhed.
Now we're getting somewhere, Rodney thought. He still wasn't turned on, but he
wasn't upset, either. I can do this; I just need to learn how to be more
effective at it.
He chose Alexander's ribs next; Alexander was skinny and had fewer muscles on
his chest than Rodney did these days. Judging from the sounds he made, the
taser hurt like hell and Rodney was glad he'd never been on the wrong end of
it. He was pretty sure even his own weird brain chemistry wouldn't be able to
make him like it.
"So," he said, stepping back a little. "How old are you?"
"Sixteen." Alexander's voice was raspy now but he didn't look defeated in any
way.
"Look," Rodney began. "We both know...."
Behind him, the door opened.
"Colonel!" Alexander said, sounding much more afraid and helpless than he had a
second ago. "Please...you have to...."
Rodney laughed.
"Something funny?" Sheppard asked.
"Did they even brief him on you? Because I'm pretty sure telling you that you
have to do something isn't a good call."
"No, it really isn't." Sheppard smirked. "How you doing, Rodney?"
"Only so so, Sir," Rodney said. "I'm going to need some pointers if you want me
to keep doing this."
"Wait," Alexander said. "You knew?"
"Of course I did," Sheppard said. "One more thing your handlers got wrong; I
don't like stupid people. You should have guessed right away that Rodney was
doing this with my permission."
He turned to Rodney. "Nice call on the age thing; I was wondering if you'd
notice."
"Thank you, Sir," Rodney said. He held the taser out to Sheppard. "Now that
you're here...."
"Nope," Sheppard said. "You said you needed pointers, didn't you? Might as well
make this a learning experience."
He bent down and murmured in Rodney's ear. "Is this turning you on?"
"No, Sir," Rodney said softly.
"Huh." Sheppard pulled away and straightened up. "You did read the specs on
that thing, didn't you?"
"Yes, Sir."
"You see," Sheppard said, turning back to Alexander. "The Ancients were pretty
good at the whole technology thing. Rodney's little toy won't stop your heart,
even turned all the way up. It will, however, do some excruciating nerve
damage."
"There's no reason to do this," Alexander said. "You're going to kill me
eventually, so why should I tell you anything?"
"Thus proving that you have something to tell," Sheppard said. "And you know,
we don't have to kill you. We can hurt you and then send you through the gate
to an empty planet and let you make your way or die there. Or give you to one
of the slave dealers we know. Or, for that matter, I'm sure the genetics
department here on Atlantis could use a new test subject."
Alexander's eyes went wide and Sheppard turned to Rodney. "Bump it up one notch
and use it on the sole of his foot."
"No!" Alexander shouted. Rodney ignored him and pressed the taser to the bottom
of his foot, wincing when Alexander shrieked.
God, he's loud.
"At some point, I'll have Ronon teach you some real techniques," Sheppard said.
"He's better at it than I am. Less easily distracted, if you know what I mean."
Rodney knew exactly what he meant, and it was hard to keep his eyes on
Sheppard's face when he wanted to know if this was turning Sheppard on.
"In fact, that might be what we do with him after we've gotten what we wanted--
keep him for you to practice on."
"I don't know anything," Alexander rasped out. He blinked and looked at
Sheppard with big eyes.
"Oh, stop it," Sheppard snapped. "The innocence thing didn't work on Rodney and
it sure as hell won't work on me. And stop looking at me that way. I'm not that
easily distracted.
"Do his other foot," he said to Rodney.
Sheppard had Rodney use the taser on Alexander's feet a few more times and then
he paused and looked down at Alexander, who was crying for real now and panting
hard.
"You're what? Twenty-four?"
When Alexander remained quiet, Sheppard reached down to the pack he'd brought
with him. Pulling out a flat box, he set it on the nearby cart. "When I went
through Special Ops training, they taught me how to deal with penny ante
torture like this. I'm pretty sure State Sec or Euro Sec taught you some of the
same things.
"On the other hand...." He opened the box and tilted it up; Rodney saw a set of
syringes.
"LSD-V. They also gave me some of it and I'm pretty sure you got some too. Do
you remember what it felt like? At one point my trainer had me convinced
cockroaches were crawling around in my brain."
"Ew," Rodney blurted out and then blushed beet red. Some interrogator he was.
But still...
Sheppard kept talking. "I was given a code word and told I'd get the flogging
of a lifetime if I gave it up. I did, of course. Just like you'll tell me
everything you know."
"Why not just use regular truth drugs?" Alexander asked and now he sounded
afraid.
"That's no fun," Sheppard said. He glanced at Rodney. "Hit him with the taser
again. On his balls this time."
"No!" Alexander said. "No...I'll...."
Rodney glanced at Sheppard, who nodded. Taking a deep breath, Rodney pressed
the taser against Alexander's balls.
"You know," Rodney said, once the shrieking had died down. "I'm going to
suggest carving up your face once he's given you the drug. Maybe we can
convince you that your skin is on fire. And you know, we could actually set
your skin on fire, with or without the drug."
"Twenty-six," Alexander ground out. "I'm twenty-six."
Rodney glanced at Sheppard, who gestured at his pack. "There's a scanner in
there. Get it out and keep an eye on it. It's set up as a polygraph."
The scanner was pretty easy to read; Rodney had it figured out in seconds.
"What's your real name?" Sheppard asked.
"Alexander," he said. "Really, that's my real name. Alexander Tavish."
"Euro Sec?"
"Yes." He closed his eyes. "Please...don't use the LSD-V on me. Please."
"We'll see." Sheppard didn't put the case down. "They told you I liked pretty
boys, right? What else?"
"That you'd hurt me. That all I had to do was take it and look pathetic and
fragile."
Sheppard snorted. "They sure got that wrong."
Rodney opened his mouth and then thought about it; he hardly qualified as
fragile any more and he damn well didn't look pathetic. He probably had at the
beginning, though, and maybe that's what Lorne's reports back to Earth had
said.
That he'd changed and Sheppard still wanted him was something he'd think about
later.
"What were you supposed to do besides wind up over my lap?"
"Just...watch you. See if you're loyal."
"And if I'm not?" Sheppard leaned forward. "Were you supposed to kill me?"
"No," Alexander shook his head, staring up at Sheppard earnestly. "I don't do
wet work, I swear."
"Rodney?"
"It's steady; he's not lying."
"So, if I'm not loyal? What then?"
"I put it in my report." Alexander sighed and let out a long breath. "My
contact...please, Colonel, I...."
"Tell me." Sheppard's voice was hard.
"Sergeant Linder."
Before Sheppard, who looked shocked, could ask, Rodney nodded. "He's telling
the truth, Sir." He held up the scanner.
"Linder," Sheppard said, his face blank now. "The Quartermaster?"
"Yes."
"Who else?"
"There were a couple of other State Sec agents among the prisoners and two in
the new platoon. The prisoners are both on Bespin...the mining colony. They
were supposed to talk to Dr. Zelenka and anyone else who might have supported
Major Lorne."
"Shit," Rodney muttered. "Did they? How did it go?"
To his surprise, Alexander shook his head. "Zelenka wouldn't deal."
"Why not?" Sheppard asked.
"He said he'd made a mistake and he wasn't going to make another one."
"Really?"
"That's what they told me, Sir. I'm telling the truth, I promise."
He was, too; Rodney nodded at Sheppard again.
"Is Linder State Sec? Or Military Intelligence?"
"I don't know. He's just my contact."
"What else do you know?" Sheppard paused and then closed the case and set it
aside.
"Not much." Alexander sighed and slumped in his bonds. "I'm just here to look
pretty and get your attention."
Rodney couldn't help laughing. "Yeah, that worked out well."
"Tell me about it," Alexander sighed.
"Wait, what about Teldy?" Sheppard said. "Or Jordan?"
"I was told not to talk to them, Sir."
"Okay," Sheppard paused and looked around the lab. "Why don't we keep him here
for now. I'll put a couple of the Athosians on the door and we'll decide what
to do with him this afternoon."
"Please, Sir," Alexander said. "I...please, if you kill me, make it quick."
"I'll consider it," Sheppard said, reaching for his pack. "C'mon, Rodney."
===============================================================================
That same afternoon John sat down in his quarters with his team and Rodney.
"So, Linder. I had no fucking idea," he said, picking at a sandwich. He finally
shoved his plate aside, unable to even think about food.
He'd never even thought that the support staff could be spies. What about Ruiz?
What about his pilots? Goddamnit, who could he trust? He glared around the
table, wondering if he could even trust his team. And what about Rodney? He
took a long breath.
He really needed to get a grip. As hard as it was to believe it right now, he
could trust his team. And he had to trust Rodney; how could he not when Rodney
had saved his ass? Still, it was hard to just sit here when all his instincts
were telling him to move, to do something, to fight back. He breathed in deep
again and tried to pay attention to the conversation.
His other distraction--the lingering arousal from watching Rodney with
Alexander--was a minor issue, although he was already thinking about how to
reward Rodney.
"Makes sense, though," Ronon was saying. "He's in a position to communicate
with Earth. After all, who's gonna check all the requisitions?"
"Yeah," John said. "All this time I was worried about Jordan and Teldy and
Elizabeth...."
"Did you ask him about Elizabeth?" Jeannie asked.
"No," John said. "I'll ask Linder about her. Speaking of which, since I don't
know who else is working with him, I'll want to question him in his quarters,
out of sight. So Rodney, we'll need to gas him."
"Okay," Rodney said, reaching for his tablet. "I can do that." He paused and
then tapped a few keys. "Hang on. He's in his quarters right now, or someone
is. I'll need to use my other lap top to see if it's him." He left the table
and headed toward his desk.
"You want me to question him?" Ronon asked.
John shook his head. "No, I've had enough entertainment today." He sighed. "I
just want to shoot him up with some truth serum, but can we trust Keller to
monitor him?"
"She owes you a great deal," Teyla said. "And she is seeing one of the midwives
on the mainland."
"Oh, thank God," John said. "We can always threaten her girlfriend if we need
to."
Teyla nodded just as Rodney said, "Colonel? That's Linder in his quarters and
he's alone."
"Can you drop some gas in on him without anyone knowing?"
"Yeah," Rodney said, making it sound a lot like "duh." John rolled his eyes,
but didn't call him on it. He'd learned that when Rodney was in the middle of
something, he was less than respectful. John usually let it go; he'd rather
have Rodney concentrating on his work and he could always have fun correcting
him later.
"Do it," he said. "Teyla, you and I need to go pick up Keller. Ronon, why don't
you come with us. Jeannie," he paused and thought for a moment. "Can you come
up with some reason to keep people out of the hall near Linder's quarters? If
he has any allies, I don't want them to know what's going on."
"I can break something and then go in and repair it." She shrugged. "No one
bugs me when I'm fixing things."
"No one bugs you when you do anything," Rodney said before turning to John. "I
think I'll just stay here, if that's okay with you, Sir?"
He looked a little lost and John suddenly remembered that for all his
intelligence and seeming maturity, Rodney was just a kid. A kid who'd just
conducted his first interrogation.
"Okay," John said. "Jeannie, go break something. Radio us when you've got the
corridor cleared. "Teyla, Ronon...can you give me a moment?"
"We will meet you in the infirmary," Teyla said. "I am sure we can come up with
a reason to talk to Jennifer."
"How long do you want me to keep him gassed?" Rodney asked as everyone else
left.
"Once we hear from Jeannie, I'll know better." John paused. "You did good back
there."
"Right," Rodney said with a snort. "I was totally flailing."
"Oh, sure you were," John agreed, amused when Rodney's eyes narrowed a little.
"But that bit about burning his face was inspired."
"He's pretty," Rodney said. "I think it's all he has."
"Don't tell me you feel sorry for him."
"I don't, really. Not for him. Just...." Rodney fidgeted with his tablet.
"You can't help think of yourself in that situation?"
"It's more that I can't help wondering if I was in that situation. Remember
when you asked me if anyone had talked to me about you? They didn't, but I
wonder if they felt that they didn't need to."
It was hardly a new thought for John, and now he shrugged. "It doesn't really
matter, given everything that's happened. Hell, even Jeannie had no idea
that...." He trailed off, trying to find the right words. "That you'd suit me
as well as you do."
Rodney ducked his head. "If she'd known," he finally said, "she'd have left me
on Earth."
"Probably." John reached out and ran a hand over the back of Rodney's neck,
pressing the collar into his skin. "Think about what you want as a reward."
"What?" Rodney blinked and John chuckled.
"Like I said, you were good in there. You get to decide what we do tonight."
"Oh," Rodney said. "Um...I'll have to think about it."
"You'll have plenty of time. I want you to stay in here while we're dealing
with Linder."
"Okay."
"Colonel?" John reached up and tapped his earpiece.
"Yeah, McKay?"
"The lights have gone screwy in corridor N-15. I'm going to be working on them
in about five minutes."
"Okay," John said. "Did you tell Campbell to keep people out of your way?"
"Yes," she said. "And they damn well better listen this time or there'll be
hell to pay."
The conversation over, John looked at Rodney. "Gotta go. Places to be, people
to interrogate."
"Good luck with it," Rodney said.
After all the careful set up, interrogating Linder was almost too easy. Thanks
to his Special Ops training, John was a drug-certified interrogator, but still,
he preferred to have medical backup during important questioning. While he knew
Linder didn't have any obvious suicide devices, there were drugs that could
interfere with interrogation medication, and so he had Keller with him when
they unlocked Linder's door.
Luckily, the anti-truth drug regimes had to be maintained fairly often and
Linder had obviously gotten complacent on Atlantis. In fact, he looked almost
comically surprised when the gas wore off and he woke up strapped to a chair
facing John, who had a syringe in one hand.
"It was the kid," he said, and John nodded. "Yeah," Linder went on, "I thought
he was a weak link. Stupid fucks at State Sec."
"You're Mil Intel?" John asked.
"Yeah. Just do it, okay?"
There are, John thought as he injected Linder, advantages to dealing with a
professional.
                                     * * *
"So," John said, once more picking at his food. The team had assembled again in
his quarters, this time for dinner. "Fuck."
"That's putting it mildly," Ronon said.
"Feel like sharing?" Jeannie asked. Before John could say anything, she turned
and glared at Rodney. "Don't inhale your food."
"Thanks, Mom," Rodney said with a scowl. "Can we please stay focused?"
"Shut up, both of you," John snapped. He still wasn't sure what was better--
Jeannie and Rodney not speaking to one another or putting up with their fucked
up family dynamic. "Rodney, get me some bourbon--the good stuff. Anyone else
want anything?"
"I would like some bourbon as well," Teyla murmured.
"Beer," Ronon said.
"You have any rum?" Jeannie asked. "And a coke, too."
John waited until everyone had their drinks and then, after a smooth sip of
bourbon, he took a deep breath.
"It could be a lot worse," he said. "State Sec and Mil Sec are still in the
planning stages and, of course, there's the usual territory wrangling between
the services. But....
"They want to get rid of all of us," he said. "Me, Elizabeth, Jeannie, Keller,
most of the science division.... They think we've all gone native. And, of
course, speaking of natives, they don't want any Pegasus natives on Atlantis,
and they don't want any natives who know where Atlantis is, so it's pretty
obvious what they have planned for you and your people, Teyla."
That it also meant that people on Earth weren't thinking about how the city
could be moved to a different location he kept to himself.
"Jesus," Jeannie said. "How the hell do they think they'll be able to maintain
the city without native allies?"
"They don't intend to maintain it the way we have been. It seems they like the
idea of this being a nice little prison set up, so the plan is to have a mostly
military garrison with frequently rotating personnel. The prisoners will be set
to mining or farming to keep the garrison going."
"No science at all?" Rodney asked.
"Very little. Linder wasn't certain, but from what he said, it sounds like they
plan on bringing military scientists in, and they'll be rotated in and out the
way the rest of the personnel is."
"That's insane!" Jennie said. "Is something happening back home?"
"Linder didn't know a lot, but it seems like the various nationalist resistance
movements are actually starting to do some real damage. I'm not as up on high-
level politics are Elizabeth is; now that we know she's a target as well, we
should probably bring her further in and let her see what we got from Linder
and whatever we get from the spies among the prisoners and the new platoon.
She'll be better able to understand the political situation back on Earth."
"Yeah," Jeannie said. "How many spies did they send us?"
"Not too many, actually. The next shipment of prisoners and accompanying troops
is supposed to be the real push." He sighed, trying not to think of how lucky
they'd been. "The new platoon's medic and its signal officer are spies. I
already told you about the prisoners, right?"
"Yes." She scowled. "I'm still not sure I trust Zelenka."
"Yeah, well, we can worry about him later." John leaned back, finished his
drink and closed his eyes.
In the silence that fell over the room, John could hear the sound of Rodney
working though his dinner.
"Sorry," Rodney mumbled and John couldn't help a little snort of laughter.
"Okay," he said. "Here's the kicker: we've got two days before Linder has to
make a report, and I'd rather not have to fake one if we don't have to. It'd be
too easy to screw it up."
"Two days?" Ronon stared at him.
"Yeah," John said. "As soon as we do our usual data exchange and they see that
Linder hasn't reported in, the clock starts ticking. If they weren't already
suspicious of us, they might wait until the next week's data dump, but I
personally think they'll send out a ship before waiting to confirm that we're
on to him."
He sighed. "So it will take maybe a day or two for them to make their plans and
then what, eighteen to twenty days for a Prometheus class ship to get here at
top speed?"
"Yeah," Jeannie said with a frown. "What if we can't find a ZPM in that time?"
"Do we have enough power to move the city?"
"You mean relocate?" Jeannie frowned. "We could do it, but not very far, which
means they'd have some good guesses as to where we've gone. And we'd be pretty
desperate for power once we got there."
"That can't be helped." John pinched the bridge of his nose. "Okay, here's what
we're going to do. First, we're going to weed out the spies and the State
loyalists. We'll interrogate the known spies and get all the names we can, and
then we'll need to go through everyone else and see who's with us. Ronon, I
want you on that, although we're going to have to delegate some of it. After I
talk to Jordan and Teldy, the three of you can coordinate it with Elizabeth.
Oh, and Keller, of course."
"I'll have a talk with Simpson as well," Jeannie said. "If I get the right
answers from her, I'll send her to you, Ronon."
"And I will talk to Jennifer," Teyla said. "Should I have her meet with Ronon
as well?"
"Yeah," John said.
"So, what," Ronon asked with a grin. "I'm now Head of Security?"
"Yeah," John said. "We need one, and I can't think of anyone I'd rather have in
the position."
"Thanks."
"Just don't fuck it up." John turned to Jeannie. "I want you to find us two
locations--one we can reach without extra ZPMs and one we can reach with more
power. I'll put a couple of pilots at your disposal to check potential sites
out."
He turned to Teyla. "Can your people be ready to move from the mainland that
fast? I was thinking that we'd send most of them to the mining site, unless you
have another address you think would work better."
"It will just be short term?"
"Yes," John said. "I promise you that. As soon as we've chased off whoever they
send after us, your people will be welcome in the city and on whatever planet
we end up on."
"Very well. I will talk to my council and we will begin the move as soon as
possible."
"Good."
"So we're going to go after whoever they send?" Ronon asked.
"If we have the power to do it, yes. If not, we'll have to hide and do the best
we can." John brushed the thought aside. "I'll need time to work out a plan of
attack, so let's not worry about that now. When you start questioning people, I
want you to clear a couple of recon teams as quickly as you can; we'll need to
have them check out some of our ZPM addresses."
"Okay."
"I'm going to meet with Elizabeth as soon as we're done here." John said. "As
for you guys, you know what the plan is--loyalty checks, moving the Athosians
to Bespin, and locating a new site for the city." Everyone nodded. "Okay,
that's it for now, but I want you to keep the day after tomorrow free for a
mission."
"A mission?" Jeannie frowned. "Is this really the time for us to be going on
missions?"
"Yeah, we're going after that lab on Larish."
                                     * * *
Three hours later, John finally returned to his quarters. He was exhausted but
wound up; the meeting with Elizabeth had gone well and he found himself ready
to move forward. But it was late and Jordan was on duty and Teldy was probably
asleep, and anyway, he was too tired to have the discussion one more time.
Rodney was still up. He was seated at his desk working on his lap top, but when
John got closer, he discovered that Rodney was only wearing boxers.
"Jesus fucking Christ, what a day," he said, and Rodney snorted.
"Yeah, no kidding. It's like...the whole thing with Alexander happened years
ago." He got up and poured John a drink. "What did you do with him?"
"He's locked up in a cell next to Linder; they're under Athosian guard." John
settled on the bed, sipping his bourbon while Rodney returned to his desk.
"How'd the meeting with Dr. Weir go?"
"Not bad. She's pretty sure Hayes is facing some pretty stiff opposition from
inside his party as well as from the various resistance groups. Apparently he
tends toward a bunker mentality when he's threatened. We're a loose end with
too much power, so we need to be snipped."
"Kinda short sighted, isn't it?"
"Not really. He's still got sources of alien tech there in the Milky Way
galaxy, and if we're out of the picture, he can keep all of the space fleet,
such as it is, in orbit above Earth. All the better to call in air strikes
against his enemies."
Rodney was quiet for a long moment, tapping at his keyboard, and John got the
feeling he was working up to saying or asking for something difficult. When the
question came, however, it was the last thing John expected.
"Sir?"
"Yeah?"
"What about your brother? And the rest of your family?"
"What?"
"Sorry," Rodney said, ducking his head. "I just...I'm so sorry, sir."
John looked at his drink, thinking about Dave and Dave's elegant wife,
Margaret, and their picture perfect kids. He thought about Nancy and her meek,
biddable second husband, and his Dad's second wife and his fourth one, and all
the lesser Sheppards--the aunts, uncles and cousins who had revolved around his
father like so many satellites.
Thank God all of them are Dave's problem now. Although....
"I hope," he said after a very long moment, "that if it comes to bombs being
tossed around or strikes from space being called in, no one hurts the horses."
Before Rodney could apologize again, John continued.
"What about you?"
"I'll miss chocolate and coffee," Rodney said. "And the journals."
"Yeah, I wish I'd had a chance to get another case or two of this bourbon."
John chuckled. "What's Jeannie going to do without her Diet Coke?"
"Be even more of a bitch than before."
"Poor Ronon."
"Yeah." Rodney stared at his lap top for a long moment. "Do you feel like it
should be more...I don't know... momentous? I mean, there you were, four of
you, planning out the secession of Earth's first intergalactic colony. Five
people in a room."
John hadn't really thought about it that way, but now he laughed a little. "We
should have had a soundtrack of ultimate destiny, at least."
"Totally," Rodney said. He keyed in something and then got up from his chair.
"Can I get a rain check?"
"Huh?"
"You promised me a reward, but really, you've had a much harder day than I
did...."
"C'mere," John said. He was starting to come down and he had a hell of a lot to
do tomorrow, and, as much as he hated to admit it, even to himself, he really
didn't feel like doing anything strenuous tonight. On the other hand, sex would
probably help him sleep.
He grabbed the lube and handed it to Rodney. "Slick yourself up and ride me."
John couldn't help smiling when Rodney rushed it, but then he was gasping and
pushing up with his hips while Rodney moved down on him fast and hard.
"Greedy," he said and Rodney paused.
"Well, yeah," Rodney said. "But if you want slow...."
"Yeah, slow," John said. As Rodney started moving, John ran his finger down
Rodney's chest. "You didn't like it, did you?"
"Not like that," Rodney said, already a little breathless. "Not like you do."
"You didn't want him?"
Rodney shook his head and bent down to put a hand on the bed next to John's
chest. "Did you like it? Seeing me...?"
"Yeah," John said without thinking. "The knife," he added, dragging his finger
back up Rodney's chest. "I want to do that to you."
"Fuck," Rodney moaned and closed his eyes. "I...yeah, that." He was silent for
a moment, moving steadily over John. "You'd like that," he finally said,
opening his eyes. "Like to see me bleed."
"Hell, yeah." John reached up and grabbed Rodney's hips, holding him still as
John fucked up into him hard. "You want it, too, don't you?"
"Yeah," Rodney said, his voice almost dreamy. He moaned as John kept fucking
him and then he reached up ran his finger...no, his fingernail, down his own
chest, leaving a white line behind.
"Jesus," John muttered. "It'd hurt more than that."
"I know...God, you're so good at hurting me."
"And you fucking love it." John dug his fingers into Rodney's hips and watched
as the pain made Rodney bite his lower lip. "Don't you, boy?"
"Yes, Sir," Rodney said.
"My little pain slut," John said. Before Rodney could answer, John added, "hang
on."
It wasn't easy to stay inside Rodney while rolling them both over, but John
managed, and as soon as they were in position, Rodney wrapped his legs around
John's waist. John grabbed Rodney's wrists and shoved them over his head,
holding them tightly while he started fucking Rodney as hard as he could.
"Gonna use my knife on you," he said, bending down so his mouth was right near
Rodney's ear. "Gonna make you bleed...fuck you like that...make you know you're
mine."
"Oh, God," Rodney said. "Want it...but I know...oh fuck...please...."
"Know what?" John stopped and used his weight to keep Rodney still when he
tried to buck up under John. "What do you know?"
"Already know I'm yours," Rodney said roughly. "That you can do whatever...oh
God...you want to me and make me...fuck...like it."
"Fuck...." John groaned. "If you're gonna come...do it now!"
Rodney closed his eyes, tilted his head back and came.
"Mine," John gasped as Rodney went tight around his dick. He managed to say
"mine" once and then again before he shoved into Rodney hard and came.
He stayed where he was, hands on Rodney's wrists, for a long moment before the
closeness got to be too much. Rolling over, he waited while Rodney got a towel
and cleaned them both up.
"I want to mark you," John said, before he could stop himself.
"I think you did," Rodney said, tossing the towel aside. He held out his wrist
and John could see the faint red marks that would turn into bruises soon
enough.
"No," he said, even as he reached out to hold Rodney's wrist. He rubbed a thumb
over the marks, watching as Rodney closed his eyes and shivered. "A permanent
mark. Something that makes it clear you're mine."
Rodney's eyes flew open. "I thought that was the point of the collar." He
glanced down at his chest. "And the rings."
"Those can be removed." John tightened his grip, expecting Rodney to argue, but
Rodney just nodded.
"What did you have in mind, Sir?"
"I'm not sure. A tattoo, I think." It had been an almost idle thought, but the
more John considered it, the more he liked the idea. "Ronon knows how to do
it," he said. "Part of his training as an officer."
"How about something in Ancient?" Rodney asked. "It's really close to
Latin...." He broke off and laughed.
"Feel like sharing?"
"Ioannes Atlanticus, Imperator," Rodney said.
"No thank you," John said, but he couldn't help smiling a little. "Too much
work."
"Dux Bellorum?"
Reaching out, John turned off his light. "Bed time, little catamite."
"Okay, I deserved that," Rodney said. He turned off his own light and then
settled down next to John.
"How'd you learn Roman titles, anyway?"
"Same way I learned most things: got interested, read a book." Rodney sighed.
"I joke about the chocolate, but books are what I'm really going to miss."
John thought about his father's library and nodded. "Yeah," he said. "We should
collect books here in Pegasus," he said. "The Larish do it; why shouldn't we
have a library?"
"We should," Rodney said and the bed moved, as if he'd bounced just a little.
John heard him take a deep breath. "About the mark...I want it."
"I'll think of something," John said. "It'll have to wait until all this is
over."
"Yeah."
Later, after Rodney's breathing evened out, John turned the day's events over
in his head. Five people in a room...but no, for him, it had started before
that, even before he'd first talked to Rodney.
Dux Bellorum, he thought, rolling it over in his head. War Duke of Atlantis.
It had, he had to admit, quite a ring to it.
                                     * * *
Four days later, flying the jumper through to Larish felt almost like the
beginning of a vacation. John had had to put the mission off for a couple of
days while he and the rest of his team worked frantically to winnow out the
spies and State loyalists among the inhabitants of Atlantis. They hadn't gotten
everyone, but John was pretty sure they'd weeded out all the truly bad apples.
They'd restricted gate travel even more than usual--the DHD was locked down and
all gate traffic now had to be cleared with John, Ronon, Jordan or Teldy. John
himself had questioned Jordan and Teldy and then he'd moved on to Chuck
Campbell and discovered that he had what turned out to be a very common
attitude.
"We're breaking ties with Earth?" Campbell had said. When John had nodded, a
little surprised by his eagerness, Campbell had grinned at him and rolled up
his sleeve. "I'm on your side, but hit me with the truth drugs if you need to,
Colonel." John had, because Campbell could case a lot of trouble if he turned
out to be a spy or a loyalist, but it turned out that Campbell was just as
eager under medication as he was without it.
The more people they talked to, the more it seemed that no one on Atlantis
wanted to have anything to do with Earth. John wasn't surprised to find that
some of the civilians, both scientists and support staff, had connections to
various resistance movements, but he'd been a little taken aback when it turned
out Lt. Freemantle, one of John's better pilots, had been given a choice of
Atlantis or Leavenworth because his sister had been involved in a mid-level
resistance cell.
They already knew who most of the spies were, but John wasn't surprised at all
when he sat down with Lt. Morgenstern and the nervous young man told him that
he didn't think he could support John's "rebellion."
"But I won't stand against you, sir," Morgenstern said. "And I won't try to
turn the men in my original platoon against you, either."
"No, you won't," John said. He thought about killing Morgenstern, but in the
end, he locked him up instead. He planned on contacting Earth one more time,
and he might as well send the loyalists back. And anyway, Morgenstern had had
the balls to stand up to John, which had to count for something.
Now, as John piloted through the Larish night, he felt a weight lifting off his
shoulders. He'd spent too much time in small rooms asking people the same
questions over and over and he really wasn't cut out for it. Thank God for
Ronon and also Teldy--who'd proven quite good at working her way through the
personnel questioning. He made a mental note to talk to Ronon about setting her
up as Deputy Head of Security; it would make the rest of the Expedition happy
to have someone from Earth involved in Security.
It was dawn on the island John had mapped out during their library mission, and
once they landed, he took a moment to check the place out. It was a fairly
typical tropical island with broad sandy beaches and a volcanic mountain in the
middle of it.
"Nice waves, and no one living here. We should keep this place for ourselves."
"It is very lovely," Teyla agreed.
"Yeah, whatever," Jeannie muttered. "Okay, it looks like the energy readings
are this way, near the peak."
They had to do a little blasting through the jungle with their energy pistols,
but even that was kind of fun, and it only took an hour or so before Jeannie
was pointing to a metal panel set into a ropey mass of old lava.
"You think there's an underground villain's lair down here?" Jeannie asked as
they carefully walked down a metal-lined corridor.
"I dunno," John replied, "but if I see a guy with a white cat, I'm gonna shoot
first and ask questions later."
"Because you wouldn't do that anyway?"
"Fuck you, McKay."
For once, she didn't say anything about Rodney.
There weren't any booby traps, but the closer they got to the actual lab the
quieter Jeannie got.
"Hey," Ronon said, resting a hand on the small of her back. "You okay?"
"Yeah," she said, her eyes glued to her scanner. "I'm...yeah, I'm okay."
Ronon clearly didn't think so, and neither did John, but Jeannie just walked up
to the door of the lab and pulled her tablet and cables out of her tac vest.
When the door slid open she paused for a long moment.
"McKay?"
"I...." Taking a deep breath she stepped forward and walked over to a familiar
looking console. "It's...basically, it's a ZPM power station," she said,
pushing a button. "And...oh yeah, baby, come to momma."
Under other circumstances, John would have found that "come to momma" a little
freaky, but he found he really didn't care as what looked like a full ZPM rose
up out of the console. "Is it...?" His voice trailed off as she shoved it at
him and then pushed another button.
"Jesus," he said, his voice hushed. "Two of them?"
"Two," Jeannie said, handing it over to Teyla. "And a quarter...maybe a fifth."
The last ZPM she pulled out of the console was darker and obviously mostly
depleted, but John didn't exactly feel robbed or anything.
"We can do this," he said quietly, a little surprised at the relief that washed
over him. He hadn't exactly doubted himself, only...well, maybe he had. "We can
really fucking do this."
And then, because he really couldn't resist the opportunity to yank Jeannie's
chain, he turned to her. "Good thing Rodney found this site, seeing as it's
been under our noses for a couple years now."
"You," Jeannie said, still looking happier than he'd ever seen her, "cannot
ruin this moment for me, so stop trying."
Ronon took the last ZPM from Jeannie and looked at it. "Wonder what a bomb
armed with this would do to a hive ship."
"Are you kidding?" Jeannie said. "A bomb armed with even a depleted ZPM would
take out a whole fucking solar system."
"I believe we have other matters to deal with before we can start bombing
things," Teyla said, and John nodded, although he tucked the idea of a ZPM
armed bomb away for future contemplation.
"Yeah, let's get these back to Atlantis."
===============================================================================
Rodney had spent the last four days holed up in his lab. Ronon had come in with
him on the first day and talked to both Mullins and Phillips, but he hadn't
even bothered to use drugs on either of them. Since then, they'd all kept their
heads down in Rodney's lab. They hadn't even had to go to the mess hall,
because the crackdown had begun, Phillips had showed up for work bright and
early with a case of MREs and one of Coke.
"Oh hey," Rodney said. "Good idea. We'll eat the MREs instead of going to the
mess, but let's save the Coke for barter later." He frowned. "Where'd you get
this stuff?"
"One of the platoon--Russell; I gave her name to Ronon yesterday because she
always has a lot of extras from the Quartermaster and so she might be involved,
you know? Anyway, she runs the black market and I know where she keeps some of
her stuff."
"Really? Does anyone else know?"
"Don't think so...she found a deserted suite in an unused area of the city. I
was the only other one with her when we did that security sweep." Phillips
brought up a map on one of the Ancient consoles. "Here. She brought me in on
the action to keep me quiet about it."
"Sweet," Rodney said. He reached down and touched a few keys. "I've locked it
up to a code. Don't worry, you'll get a cut, but, depending on what's in
there...." He paused and sat down as it hit him yet again--once they finished
the last of their supplies from Earth, that was it He hadn't lied to Sheppard,
there was no one he'd miss, but there were plenty of things he'd miss. Not just
the chocolate and coffee he'd joked about, but the books he already missed, the
ones he'd been meaning to order box by box until he had a decent library of
textbooks and reference material.
"It'll be incredibly valuable," he finally said. After taking a deep breath, he
leaned back in his chair.
"Here's the thing," he said and Mullins and Namin both looked up from their
work. "We're going to be the equivalent of military scientists. We might not
have rank, well, aside from Phillips here, but more and more, we're going to be
the scientists Sheppard comes to when he wants things researched.
"Of course, right now, there are only four of us, so we need every advantage we
can, including things like cases of Coke."
"It's more than soda," Phillips said. "Russell's got booze, weed, other drugs."
"Jesus," Rodney said. "I might just have to get you a promotion."
"Are you going to try to recruit more people?" Mullins asked.
"Once everything shakes down, maybe. It depends on who's left and who's
useful." Rodney shrugged. "At the very least I want to get a couple more
Athosian clerks so Namin doesn't have to do all the boring translating jobs,
but other than that? We'll see."
He did want more help, but it wasn't going to be easy. And right then, he'd
needed to knuckle down and find the damn drone manufacturing site he'd been
looking for on and off since he first started to work in this lab.
                                     * * *
Two days later, right after Sheppard's team returned quietly to the city from
their mission to Larish, Sheppard showed up in the doorway to the lab.
"Come with me and bring your stuff," Sheppard said. He was silent as he led
Rodney down the hall to the transporter, and then into a section of the city
Rodney had never been in. He recognized it however from the maps and he shot a
little glance at Sheppard.
"Really?"
"Yeah," Sheppard said, a tiny smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.
The rest of Sheppard's team was in the power room and Jeannie scowled a little
as the door closed behind John and Rodney, but she said nothing as she opened a
silver case and took a ZPM out of it.
Rodney had never actually seen a ZPM--photos, drawings, yes, but never an
actual ZPM in the flesh, so to speak. He stared at it as Jeannie carefully
lowered it into the receptacle. Lights flashed across the board and she nodded,
breathing out what looked like a sigh of relief.
"Okay, I've restricted the power flow, so the additional power won't show up on
the routine power consumption reports."
"Good," Sheppard began, but Rodney leaned forward.
"Jeannie, I think the internal mapping system is one of the secondary or maybe
even tertiary systems that are inactive because of power conservation
protocols. Is there any chance I can access the power?"
"Yeah," she said, "but you'll need to work from here. Here, I'll show you how
to bypass the system so that your usage doesn't show up in the reports."
She walked him through the necessary steps and authorized him to access the
system from any secure terminal.
"Good," Sheppard said again. "Rodney, I want you to drop everything else and
give me as much information as you can about the external defense system. With
everything going on, I've already put the power room off limits to prevent
sabotage, so you can work from here. Make sure you have Namin or Rath with you
at all times. And do not let anyone other than Namin know that we have the
ZPMs, you understand?" When Rodney nodded, Sheppard frowned.
"Yes, Sir," Rodney said. Then, as Sheppard relaxed, he asked. "ZPMs, plural?"
"Two and a fifth," Jeannie said.
"We should put a guard on this room," Teyla said. "Is there anyone trustworthy
we can spare?"
"Yeah," Ronon said. "I'll pull a couple guys off my list."
"Keep 'em down the corridor," John said. "Right now, my guy and Namin on the
door should be enough."
"You're going to stay down here?" Jeannie said.
"Unless anyone needs me somewhere else," Sheppard replied. "I need to rethink
my tactics now that we have more power."
"Well, unless anyone needs me and Ronon, we're going to go celebrate," Jeannie
said, grabbing Ronon's hand.
"Because I wanted to hear that," Sheppard muttered as they took off.
"I should go, too," Teyla began.
"Um, Ms. Emmagan?" Rodney said. "Can I speak to you for a moment?"
"Of course," she said, settling down on one of the benches that ringed the
room.
"Phillips, my engineer? He is...was active in the black market. Sergeant
Russell really ran it, but...."
"Yes," she said. "I am aware of this. Sergeant Russell is currently
imprisoned."
"Did Phillips turn Russell in to get her out of the way?" Sheppard asked.
Rodney blinked; that hadn't occurred to him. "All he told me was that he gave
Ronon Russell's name because she always got extra stuff from the Quartermaster,
so he thought they were close.
"Anyway, when you questioned Russell, did she tell you where her stash is?"
"I dunno," Sheppard said as Teyla shook her head.
"No, he did not."
"I know where it is, and I've locked it up under a code only I know."
"Rodney," Teyla said with a slight smile. "Are you planning on taking over the
black market?"
"Phillips is my guy," Rodney said. "He didn't have to tell me, and I didn't
have to tell you. I did because I know I'd be in deep shit if I didn't, but I
want to reserve some of that stuff for trading both here on Atlantis and with
our allies."
"Teyla?" Sheppard said, looking at her.
"While I think we need to wait and see how things settle down here," she said,
"having control over the last Earth luxury items would give Rodney a useful
advantage."
Rodney opened his mouth and then closed it again, looking at Sheppard. He felt
a little like he had the one and only time he'd asked his dad for a raise in
his allowance, about three weeks before he'd learned how to hack into the
banks.
"Yeah, all right," Sheppard said.
"I was thinking of leaving Phillips in charge of it," Rodney said. "He knows
all of Russell's contacts."
"Very well," Teyla said. "We can discuss this further after we have gained a
measure of security."
"Thank you," Rodney said. "Both of you."
"You are welcome. And now, I should meet with Elizabeth. John, may I tell her
about the ZPM?"
"Tell her we have one."
"Very well."
"So, you're now the black market king of Atlantis?" Sheppard asked. He'd been
leaning against a wall, but now he picked up his laptop, which had been sitting
on a console and settled down in a chair, propping his feet up on the power
console.
"Gotta start somewhere," Rodney said, opening up his computer bag. He pulled
out his primary laptop and plugged it into one of the Ancient consoles. "Is
that a problem?"
"No, I actually think it's a good idea. As long as I get the good stuff."
"I'll find out what kind of alcohol's in the stash."
"Okay." Sheppard went silent and Rodney looked up to find him engrossed in his
work.
Smiling, Rodney turned back to his own laptop as the portal to the Ancient
database portal opened up. He accessed the city's external weapons systems and
blinked. "Wow...."
"Anything interesting?" Sheppard asked.
Rodney didn't even look up. "Too early to tell," he said. "But there are a lot
more subdirectories visible than there were this morning." He pulled out his
tablet and accessed his translation program.
"Um, Sir?"
"Yeah?"
"What do you need the most?"
"More drones," Sheppard said. "Although...the SGC has had drones to study since
they found the Antarctica base. When they come after us, they'll have an anti-
drone doctrine in place."
"Oh, I hadn't thought of that. Can I bring Namin in here and set him to looking
for drones while I dig through the new stuff?"
"Sure." Sheppard went back to his work.
As usual, Namin was almost invisibly quiet in Sheppard's presence. Rodney had
set him up at a terminal and then settled down himself with his lap top and for
a long while, the only sound in the room was the soft rattle and click of
computer keys.
"Namin?" Rodney said about an hour later. "What's athmerak mean?"
"Superior," Namin said. "Or maybe...improved?"
"Huh...." Rodney followed the link to "superior/improved drone weapons" and
then frowned and backtracked to see if he was looking at manufacturing or
supplies, but no, the phrase appeared in both and it didn't have the prefix
character that meant "experimental"....
It took him almost an hour to wade through the information, but when he did, he
went very still as he took in the text spilling across the screen in Ancient.
"Holy fuck," he murmured.
He was only dimly aware of the thunk as the two front feet of Sheppard's chair
hit the floor. "Rodney?"
"Gimme a minute...."
It was actually five minutes before he was sure, and that was only after he'd
plugged several terms into his tablet to check the translation.
"Rodney!"
"Okay...." Rodney took a deep breath. "The drones were never meant to be
anything but basic weapons. Kind of like simple anti-aircraft missiles, right?"
"They pack a bigger punch, but yeah, I know what you mean."
"But say you're a big ship and you're shooting at another big ship...."
"Like the Daedalus going against a hive ship? They used nuclear missiles and
Asgard plasma beam weapons."
"Right, and two and a half weeks doesn't give us much of a chance to build any
of those."
"We have a few nukes socked away," Sheppard said. "Built with supplies we took
from the Genii. But they know about those back on Earth, too."
"But," Rodney said, pulling up a schematic, "do they know about these?" He
turned the lap top toward Sheppard.
"What am I looking...a bigger drone?"
"A...well, call it a super drone, for want of a better term."
"Is that...fuck, does it really have...what is that? Thirteen times the yield
of a regular drone?"
"Thirteen, yeah."
"There has to be a catch," Sheppard said. "Too much has been going our way."
"The catch is that there are only five of them in storage. Near as I can tell,
they use the same manufacturing site as the regular drones, so if...when we
find that we'll be able to make more, but until then this is it."
"Two of these could take out the Daedalus." Sheppard frowned. "Thing is, I'm
not sure I want to do that."
"What?" Rodney said with a scowl of his own. Here he'd found ship-killers for
Sheppard and it wasn't what Sheppard wanted?
"I want to be able to damage the ship as lightly as possible. If we have a
chance, I'd like to capture it."
"Okay, fine," Rodney said. "But I don't know that the Ancients were big on
capturing hive ships."
Muttering "you're welcome," he went back to the list of external defense sub-
directories. The hard smack to the back of his head brought him up short.
"Sorry, Sir."
"You need to learn to focus. If you do something good, you'll get thanked for
it when I have time." Sheppard took a deep breath. "Look, when we're in the
field and the clock is running, I can't be bothered with manners."
You can't be bothered with them most of the time, clock running or not. Since
Rodney wasn't looking to get thrashed, he kept his observations to himself.
"Yes, Sir."
Sheppard turned back to his own lap top. "Find me something like the Asgard
plasma beam weapons and I'll create an Atlantis medal of honor and give it to
you, okay?"
Hiding a smile, Rodney started searching for beam weapons.
Rodney, Sheppard and Namin had MREs for dinner, and it was a little past
midnight when Sheppard looked up from his laptop. "Namin, go get some sack
time," he said. "I know you're dedicated, but I want you alert during the
days."
"Go," Rodney said. "If you could manage to get some sleep for me too, that'd be
great."
"There is a lot I can do for you," Namin said with a small smile.
"Unfortunately...." He shut down the console he'd been using and headed for the
door.
"Good night, Colonel, Rodney."
"Night," Rodney said.
"You got lucky there," Sheppard said after the door closed.
"I really did," Rodney said. "When things are settled again, I want a different
day guard. I'll keep training with Namin, but I really want him working with me
full time."
"Just how much empire building are you going to do?"
Rodney looked up from his laptop to find Sheppard looking at him, his face
unreadable.
"I have to start somewhere," Rodney said. "You've got me working on weapons
systems while Jeannie's off fucking Ronon. If I'm going to be your go to
science guy, I need some help."
"The key being that you're mine," Sheppard said.
"I am." Rodney shrugged a little. "This city can't do without Jeannie, but you
could kick me off the East Pier tomorrow and Atlantis would be fine. Trust me,
I know how it is."
"You might be a little more valuable than that," Sheppard said, and then
chuckled. "But not much."
"Like I said, I know."
As Rodney turned back to his work, he found himself wondering if Sheppard would
miss him if he did end up taking that short walk off the long pier.
Sheppard finally made Rodney close up shop around two-thirty and Rodney was
sound asleep by three. The alarm went off at seven the next morning and Rodney
gave Sheppard a quick blow job, poured himself a cup of coffee and headed off
to his lab.
"Namin and I are doing some work for the colonel," he said to Philips and
Mullins as he grabbed a handful of MREs from the box. "So I'll be elsewhere for
a while. Just...just keep your heads down and, I don't know, play solitaire or
watch movies or something."
The next week passed in roughly the same fashion. Namin was actually the one to
find the drone manufacturing set up as well as a secondary supply of regular
drones. Rodney made sure to thank him before setting him on the trail of a
vaguely worded reference to a beam weapon.
Two days after they found the ZPMs, Sheppard had pointed at the medicine
cupboard as he and Rodney got ready to face another day. "There's a bottle of
stims in there. You can use them, but try to be careful."
After that, Rodney hardly saw Sheppard. Namin kept him up to date on the
transfer of the Athosians and other natives from the mainland to the mining
site. As accustomed to hurried migrations as they were, the Athosians and their
allies went where they were sent without any real problem.
"Are people upset?" he asked one afternoon while they ate lunch.
"A few," Namin said, making a face at the MRE in front of him. "But what is
that phrase Dr. Mullins uses? When Teyla says jump, our people ask 'how high?'"
He shrugged. "As for the rest of the refugees...well, everyone thinks they're
being moved because the Wraith are about to attack; they're just glad we didn't
just abandon them."
"Do they think we'd do that?"
"It's a pretty common way to get rid of undesirables," Namin said.
"Kind of wasteful," Rodney said. "At least it would be for us. We're going to
need people once we've cut our last tie with Earth."
"Someone will have to see that we are fed," Namin agreed, and they both went
back to their work.
Sheppard came in a couple of times a day, once around midday to check on
Rodney's progress and then again in the middle of the night to drag Rodney off
to bed. One night he never showed up, and Rodney was so busy chasing down an
elusive clue through the database that he didn't even notice until four in the
morning when Namin started snoring at his console. Rodney just popped a few
pills and kept working.
                                     * * *
Then they were close to the deadline, and not only had Rodney gotten some sleep
the night before, but he'd had a chance to take a shower as well. Sheppard had
been out scouting new sites for the city and had only come to bed as Rodney was
getting up. Feeling weirdly like someone's wife, Rodney dragged Sheppard into
the shower and then, standing under the hot spray with him, had jerked him off.
Sheppard had been unsteady on his feet as Rodney steered him toward the bed and
once he was asleep Rodney radioed Ronon.
"The colonel just went to bed," he said. "Is there any chance he won't be
needed for another six or seven hours?"
"Yeah, I can see that he's not disturbed."
"Thanks." Rodney was about to put his radio on standby when Ronon spoke again.
"You taking care of yourself?"
"Me? I'm okay; I'm eating and trying to grab at least a little sleep. Are you
okay?"
"Yeah, I'm good. We'll get through this."
Vaguely reassured, Rodney slipped out quietly and headed toward the ZPM power
room.
Maybe it was the sleep or maybe it was the shower or maybe the fact that Rodney
skipped the stims when he had his second cup of coffee or maybe it was even
just luck, but right around eleven, when he was debating the merits of a fourth
cup of coffee over a big glass of water, the words "remote drone" caught his
eyes.
"Jesus fucking Christ," he said. "All this time and I've been chasing drones
again?" He was about to leave the current directory when he realized he'd read
the words wrong. Remote weapons drone...is that "platform"? Oh my God....
He switched over to his tablet and its link to the Expedition database,
hurriedly looking for everything they had on the remote weapons platform they'd
used against the Wraith just before the siege in that first year, and yes,
there it was. He went back to the Ancient database again, translating the
English to Ancient in his head without even thinking about it as he checked and
then double checked his findings.
"If this is a fucking experimental system or broken or...."
But no; once he knew what commands to enter into the city's systems, a new
interface came up. The power and readiness lights were amber and his stomach
twisted until he realized that all the system needed was power. It didn't even
require a whole ZPM; like the weapons platform, they could probably power it
with a naquadah generator or the mostly depleted ZPM.
"I need a drive," he said without looking up. "The biggest empty one we've
got."
A moment later, Namin handed him a flash drive and Rodney almost broke it as he
shoved it into the USB port on his laptop.
"What...?"
"I need to tell Sheppard first," Rodney said, holding up a hand. "Just give me
a minute and then...."
"Rodney...."
"Shut up!"'
"Rodney!" Namin all but yelled. Startled, Rodney stared at him. "Listen to me.
We are locked in here with protection out in the halls because the colonel does
not want anyone to know that we have a new ZPM."
"I know that...oh. Right. I need to calm down."
"You really need to calm down." Namin said. "Breathe...put your head down if
you need to, take deep breaths, and let the information finish loading." He
rested a hand on Rodney's back.
"Okay. Yeah...this is...okay, no. Don't think about it. Calm. I need to be
calm." Rodney gulped in air and did his best to slow himself down a little.
Twenty minutes later, the stick burning a hole in his pocket, Rodney made his
way to his quarters with Namin next to him. Even though he was doing his best
to not look like anything important was going on, Rodney was sure everyone
looking at him could tell that he had amazing news.
Finally, Namin peeled off, joining Sheppard's Athosian guard, and Rodney heaved
a huge sigh as he heard the door slide shut behind him. All of a sudden, all
his calm vanished and he headed toward the bed, pulling the stick from his
pocket.
"John," he said, only barely keeping himself from grabbing Sheppard's shoulder.
"John, wake up!"
"I'm awake," Sheppard said, rolling over to look at the clock while he reached
under his pillow for his Beretta. "They can't have reached Pegasus yet. Not for
another day, at least."
"John," Rodney said again, waving the stick. "I found it!"
"Rodney, calm the fuck down and tell me what's going on."
"Remember the weapons platform? That you used against the Wraith during the
Siege back in...."
"Yes," Sheppard began.
"That was an early thing...." Rodney bounced on his toes. "It took me forever
to find it, but there's a remote control platform thingy that is stored here on
Atlantis. Actually, there's more than one, but there's only one ready to use--
but it's got a version of the beam weapon used on the Lagrange platform."
"A remote control beam weapons platform?"
"Yeah, it's about the size of a jumper and it's got a cloak. You can maneuver
it using a console,
or, I think, the chair. It's independent of the city."
"Jesus...." Sheppard let out a breath in a huff and then stared at Rodney's
hand. "You have the specs?"
"Yeah," Rodney said, pulling his laptop out of his bag. "No one knows about
this but you and me. Even Namin just knows that I found something that made me
hyperventilate, but that's it."
"You didn't dash over here, did you?"
"No," Rodney said, tapping his fingers on the wrist rest of his laptop as he
waited for it to boot up. "Although, to be fair, it took Namin and some deep
breathing before I was able to nonchalantly make my way over here...oh hey,
here we go."
"No more fucking coffee for you," Sheppard said as Rodney settled on the bed,
turning the laptop so Sheppard could see it.
"Actually, I could really use some food that isn't an MRE," Rodney said,
suddenly aware of his hunger.
"We're done with the support staff; the kitchen's safe, so you can send Namin
for sandwiches."
By the time Namin returned with a tray full of food, both Rodney and Sheppard
were bent over the laptop all but oblivious to the information on the screen.
Rodney finally looked away when his stomach growled loudly.
"Get Jeannie," John said about an hour later. "Tell her to get over here as
soon as possible. We need to get this powered up so I can start practicing it
with it."
"If we power something this big up, people are going to know...."
"The only people left on Atlantis are people who are, as near as we can tell
with drugs and other types of questioning, loyal to the city."
"What about everyone else?"
"Didn't I tell you? The State loyalists are locked up in the barracks on
Bespin. The actual traitors--the spies--are down in detention."
"If you told me, I probably forgot," Rodney said through a large mouthful of
sandwich. "It's not that I'm dreaming in Ancient, it's that I'm dreaming in
Ancient text."
"You need some real sleep."
"So do you, Sir. I'm sorry I woke you up."
"If you hadn't, I'd beat the hell out of you and not in a fun way either."
Sheppard turned back to the laptop. "Call Jeannie and then finish your
sandwich."
Jeannie looked almost as bad as Sheppard had earlier that morning, and she was
far grumpier than he'd been.
"Give it a rest, McKay," Sheppard said, "and check this out."
"What the hell...." Her voice trailed off as she took in the remote. "You found
this, Mer?"
"Yeah," Rodney said cautiously.
"Interesting," she said. "I had no idea...well, never mind. I assume you want
it powered up?"
"Yeah, and we need to look it over to make sure it's still okay." Sheppard
said.
Rodney almost protested--after all, he'd found the thing--but Sheppard gave him
a look and he sighed and reached for the other half of his sandwich. It was
stupid; Jeannie was obviously much better with Ancient power systems and actual
hardware, but still...Rodney wanted to be there.
Not with about a week left before Earth throws their best at us. Later, you'll
have time to learn how to do this stuff later.
"Hang on," Sheppard said, as Jeannie headed toward the door. "Give us a
minute."
Rodney was a little surprised when she just nodded and left. "She must be even
more tired than she looks," he said.
"Two things," Sheppard said. "One...." He grinned at Rodney. "Thank you; I'll
have someone design a medal." In spite of his words, he sounded sincere and
Rodney ducked his head.
"I want to survive, too," he said. Sheppard just nodded.
"Two," and now Sheppard looked a lot more serious. "I don't want you to spend
the rest of your life doing database searches. Just because you're good at it
and just because your searches have probably saved our asses three times over
doesn't mean that you won't be good at the hardware stuff as well."
"I was just telling myself that," Rodney said. "But thank you."
"You looked pissed off," Sheppard said. "Don't be. You'll get recognition and
training, I promise you that." He looked down at Rodney. "I'll see you later,
but for now, just take the afternoon and relax."
"Yeah," Rodney said. "Okay."
As soon as Sheppard left, leaving his lunch behind, Rodney called Namin inside.
"Here, have a sandwich and some fruit."
"Thanks," Namin wolfed his food down and then looked at Rodney. "Now what?"
"I guess we wait. The colonel told me to take the afternoon off, so I figured
you might as well take a break, and anyway, I wanted to talk to you."
"Yes?"
"I talked to Teyla a little about this and I wanted to ask you...do you want to
keep doing database work for me? Because it's kind of ridiculous to expect you
to both guard me and work on the stuff in the lab too."
"As long as I can make sure your bodyguards are good," Namin said seriously,
and for a moment Rodney wanted to laugh. He was sixteen and Namin was seventeen
and...well, they sounded a little like Colonel Sheppard and Ronon.
"Okay," he said. "I wouldn't want anyone guarding me that you don't approve of
anyway. So when things are back to...well, whatever will pass for normal around
here, we'll talk to Teyla and maybe Ronon and see about getting you some more
help."
And now, finally, he laughed. "It's just," he said when Namin gave him a look.
"If we were two ordinary people back on Earth, we'd still be in school. And
damn, if I'd had you watching my back in high school I wouldn't have gotten the
crap kicked out of me as much as I did."
"You'd hold your own against anyone now."
"Yeah." Rodney shook his head. "It's weird. I can fight, but my real
contribution will be...oh hey, that thing, I found? It's a remote control
weapons platform...."
They spent the rest of the afternoon talking about Atlantis's various weapons
systems, and although Sheppard would probably call it work, Rodney found it
oddly relaxing.
Sheppard didn't return until after midnight. Rodney had sent Namin off to bed
and had settled down with Sheppard's copy of War and Peace, because he was too
drained to study but really didn't feel like playing solitaire or chess against
the computer. The book was kind of boring, and Rodney had just nodded off when
the door opened.
"Hey," he said. "Is there any chance of you getting a decent night's sleep
tonight?"
"I'm about three seconds from face-planting right here in the doorway,"
Sheppard said. He stumbled over to the bed and sat down heavily. "Please tell
me I don't stink."
"Not so much that it'll keep either of us from sleeping," Rodney said. He slid
out of bed and knelt down to help Sheppard out of his boots. "How'd it go?"
"Pretty well. Jeannie thinks the mostly depleted ZPM from Larish will be more
than enough to power the remote platform, so she won't have to scramble to set
up a naquadah generator in the little time we have."
"Oh, good."
"Yeah, tomorrow she's going back to working on the city's shields and I'll be
test driving the remote platform. It may look like a jumper, but the engines
aren't nearly as powerful. It's probably going to have all the handling power
of a late 60s Caddy."
He managed the rest of his clothes on his own and then flopped down onto the
bed. Rodney reached over and dimmed his bedside lamp.
"These kind of battle tactics aren't my strength. It's not the kind of thing
the Air Force trained me to do," Sheppard said, several moments later. "I have
an idea, and I think it will work, but how well it works depends on who they
send. I'm hoping for Carter."
"Oh? Dr. Mullins has talked about her some; isn't she like the best the SGC's
got?"
"Yeah, you could say that. Jeannie hates her. Near as I can tell, they got into
it a few years ago, and that's at least one of the reasons Jeannie got sent
here with the rest of us bad boys and girls."
"Then why are you hoping for her?"
"If your sister could save her life by surrendering a ship, do you think she'd
do it?"
Rodney finally put his book down and looked at Sheppard. "Probably, why?"
"Because Carter's military, but she's a scientist first. Caldwell or Ellis, if
he's even still around, would probably blow the whole ship up or force me to do
it rather than surrendering." Sheppard shrugged. "It's what I would do."
"And you want to capture the ship?"
"If I can. Yes, I can fly Atlantis, but she's more like a flying fortress than
a warship. Your remote platform will help, and the super drones will help, but
she's not exactly maneuverable. A ship with Asgard technology would be...." He
paused.
"What?"
"I was going to say it would be the best thing that happened to us, but I'm not
entirely sure that's right."
"Oh?"
"It's a double-edged sword. If Earth knows we have a ship, one of their ships,
then we're far more dangerous in their eyes."
"You really don't think they worry about us flying the city back to Earth?"
Rodney asked.
"I don't know," Sheppard replied. "I wish the main spy here on Atlantis had
been just about anyone other than the fucking Quartermaster." When Rodney
raised an eyebrow, Sheppard continued.
"Linder didn't know or care about tactics and had no idea what sorts of tactics
Earth thought we'd use." He sighed and fell silent for so long that Rodney
wondered if the conversation was over.
"I don't want to get us all killed," Sheppard finally said.
"You won't." Rodney said, without even thinking about it. "And before you ask,"
he added, "no, I'm not just saying that because it's what you want to hear. And
I'm far from the only one who thinks it; look at how many people stayed."
"Yeah."
Sheppard rolled over and his breathing started to even out. Rodney had just
gotten back into the scene he'd been reading earlier when he heard Sheppard
say, very faintly, "thanks."
                                     * * *
Rodney woke up before Sheppard did and was just finishing up in the bathroom
when he heard Sheppard talking. "Okay, thanks for the information. Can you tell
Majors Jordan and Teldy, as well as my team and Elizabeth, that I'd like to
meet at...say ten hundred?"
"What's up?" Rodney asked as Sheppard set his radio back down onto the night
stand.
"Our long range sensors picked up a ship; it's a Prometheus class and it's
headed our way." If Sheppard still felt any of the doubt he'd expressed the
night before, he'd buried it deep. The only expression on his face now was
determination.
"How long do we have?"
"Five days."
"Okay, then," Rodney said. "You have time to take a shower before your meeting.
You might want to shave, too."
"Bossy."
"Sorry, but you are getting a little shaggy." Rodney rubbed his own chin; he'd
been surprised at how scruffy he'd gotten after four or five days without
shaving.
"I dunno: now that I'm a glamorous rebel, maybe I should let the beard go and
get an eye patch."
Rodney pretended to think about it but then shook his head. "No, I really don't
think so."
"Yeah," Sheppard said. "And it itches, too." He got up and stripped off his t-
shirt and boxers. "Order some breakfast, would you?"
As the shower started up, Rodney set up the coffee pot. They had enough coffee
to get them all through the coming confrontation, but after that, it would be
nothing but weird Pegasus teas. Pushing the thought aside, he called to the
mess hall and then tidied up the bedroom. If he was going to be relegated to
the supportive boyfriend role--and God, even thinking about it semi-seriously
was weird--then he might as well do a decent job of it.
"Speaking of which," he said as Sheppard wandered out of the bathroom wearing
only a towel. "Once this is over, we need to move."
"Speaking of what?"
Rodney made a dismissive gesture. "I was just thinking that this place is
ridiculously small for one person, let alone two."
"Well, with more power I guess we could open up some of the residential areas."
Sheppard shrugged and sat down at his desk.
"Perfect example," Rodney said. "We eat at our desks."
"You're not turning into my mother, are you?"
"Um...sorry?"
"Frankly, you can get us a new place and decorate it in high style for all I
care. Just don't take up heavy drinking."
"I get hangovers," Rodney said. "Really bad ones, with migraines."
"So did my mother," Sheppard said, digging into his food. "Never stopped her."
There was a long silence. "Well," Sheppard said, with a grimace. "This is
awkward."
"Sorry," Rodney said again.
"Don't be." Sheppard ate some toast. "I'd let you sit in the meeting today, but
Jordan and Teldy still tend to think of you as my distracting pet, so..."
"It's okay," Rodney said. "I'll find something to do, even if it's just sit
around and read War and Peace."
"Don't spoil it for me; I've only gotten to the third chapter."
"I hate to tell you, but Napoleon's plans to conquer Russia fail."
Sheppard burst out laughing and Rodney grinned at him.
                                     * * *
The role of the supportive boyfriend was pretty boring, Rodney discovered over
the next four days. In addition to practicing with the remote, Sheppard was all
over the city, meeting with people and planning out the battle. Rodney did his
best to make sure Sheppard ate and got as much sleep as possible, but that was
as far as it went.
Most of the non-essential personnel were sent to Bespin, so he didn't even have
Doctor Mullins or Corporal Phillips to spend time with He and Namin spent a
fair amount of time in AR-1's private gym, and when they weren't working out or
doing the katas Namin had been trying to teach Rodney, they hung out in
Rodney's lab, searching the Ancient database for entertainment facilities and
porn.
They found a pool complex but nothing in the way of porn, leaving Rodney to
wonder what the hell the Ancients did for fun. "Maybe there's literature," he
said, but the thought of reading something in Ancient for fun was just too much
like work.
Their one big find were some strategy games. They were a bit too complicated
for just relaxing, but Rodney earmarked them for later; maybe Sheppard or some
of the Marines would be interested.
And then, suddenly, they had a day left or maybe less.
"Pack your things," Sheppard said, 18 hours before the earliest ETA they'd
calculated for the Daedalus. "I'm sending you to...."
"No."
Sheppard frowned, but Rodney crossed his arms over his chest and did his best
to look resolved.
"I don't care if all I do is sit in my lab and follow the battle on the
sensors, I am not leaving."
"If I make it a very clear, direct order?"
"Please," Rodney said. "Don't."
Sighing, Sheppard shook his head. "Fine, but don't make a habit of disobeying
me."
"I won't, Sir."
That night, they ate in the mess hall with everyone who was remaining on
Atlantis. It was a quiet affair; the only scientists who remained were Jeannie
and her most trusted engineers. Dr. Weir was there along with a small
scattering of support staff and, of course, Keller and almost all of her
people.
The kitchen staff had gone all out, perhaps because they were feeding fewer
people than usual, and Rodney noticed the medics circulating the tables and
urging everyone to eat up.
"It's weird," Ronon said.
"Oh?" Dr. Weir asked. She was sitting with the team in a clear show of
solidarity, which Rodney understood but still found a little uncomfortable.
"It feels like the night before a battle, but none of us except Sheppard will
be fighting."
"I'll be fighting to keep everything powered up," Jeannie said. She leaned in
closer and when she continued, her voice was low. "And fine, John's got a
pretty clever plan, but there are a lot of ways it can go wrong."
"Yeah," Sheppard said. "Buck up, you could be manning a rail gun this time
tomorrow."
"I feel better already," Ronon said dryly.
"Teyla," Dr. Weir said a little while later. "Do you want to address everyone?
Or do you, John?"
"I think one of you should," Teyla said. "You are the ones leaving your world
behind."
"Fuck," Sheppard said. "I suck at this kind of thing."
"They aren't here because they trust me," Elizabeth said. "They're here for
you,
Colonel."
Taking a deep breath, Sheppard closed his eyes and sat that way for a long
moment. "Not just me, but yeah, okay," he finally said. "I'll do it."
Ronon promptly stood up, put two fingers in his mouth and whistled loudly.
"Listen to the commander," he shouted as the room quieted down.
"You're going to have to work a little harder to hear me," Sheppard said, and
people chuckled.
"When Teyla said one of us should speak, I was kind of hoping it wouldn't be
me. I'm crap at this sort of thing."
There were a few more chuckles and then the room went silent. Rodney could
almost feel the tension that everyone had hidden all evening under steaks and
fries and jokes coming to the surface.
"When we came to Atlantis, we came for a lot of reasons, but we all had one
thing in common--we all knew there was no going home. Oh, maybe we pretended
that we could go back someday, but when we really thought about it, we knew
we'd been sent here because Earth didn't want us. Some of us were criminals or
knew criminals, some of us had made dangerous enemies, and some of us just
didn't have anywhere else on Earth to go.
"So here we were, in another galaxy untold light-years from the home that no
longer wanted us. And somewhere along the line, we came to understand
something. Maybe for you that understanding came gradually, or maybe it came in
a sudden flash of insight. Maybe you didn't even understand it until we pulled
you in for questioning last week.
"However it happened, we all understand one thing. In our time here, Atlantis
has become our home. Our place. Our city."
Sheppard paused and Rodney couldn't look away from him.
"They're coming tomorrow because they don't want us to feel like that. They
don't want us to have any home but the one they kicked us out of. And yes, they
are coming tomorrow to try to take our city away from us."
And then, instead of squaring his shoulders back and lifting his chin to look
heroic, Sheppard shrugged.
"They can try all they want, but I'm not going to let them succeed," he said,
simply and matter-of-factly. When people started reacting-clapping and yelling
"hell no!"--he held up his hand.
"You know why?" And now he was standing in a straight, defiant pose.
"Because this is my city--our city. They can send the Daedalus; they can send
the Apollo; they can send the Odyssey. Hell, they can build a whole fleet of
ships and send them after us, but it won't change the outcome at all.
"We will defeat them and we will hold what's ours and as long as I live, no one
will take it from us!"
When the cheering and the stomping started, Rodney jumped to his feet and
yelled along with everyone else, so he didn't see who started the steady chant
of "Shepp-ard, Shepp-ard, Shepp-ard!"
He chimed in, his eyes on Sheppard and he could see it hit him, could see him
take in the adulation and the devotion with what looked at first like confusion
and then changed into a fierce kind of pride and determination. Rodney wanted
him so much right then that it was hard to remember why he couldn't just crawl
under the table and suck him off.
After everyone calmed down, which took a while, even the announcement from the
remaining kitchen staff that there were brownies, didn't make much of an
impression on Rodney. He ate his brownie without really thinking about the fact
that it might have been made with the last chocolate in the city. And then,
everyone was saying good night and Sheppard had talked over the night watch
with Teldy and Campbell and finally Sheppard's hand was clamped around Rodney's
arm and he was all but dragging him down the hall.
They hadn't had time for much in the way of sex in the last few weeks; it had
been mostly blowjobs and handjobs here and there with none of the complicated
scenes Sheppard liked. Rodney half expected Sheppard to go for the foot locker
of toys for a whip or a paddle or even just the cuffs.
But no, Sheppard laid Rodney out on the bed and looked him for a long moment.
"Who do you belong to?" he finally said, sitting down on the bed.
"You, Commander," Rodney said.
"Me," Sheppard said with that same fierce look. "Only me." He bent down and bit
down on the sensitive skin stretched over Rodney's hipbone while sliding his
fingers down Rodney's to pinch hard right behind Rodney's knee.
"No one but you," Rodney promised. It was true, he realized with some surprise.
Sheppard was biting him and pinching up bruises and it hurt like fuck and,
honestly, Rodney couldn't imagine being with anyone else.
By the time Sheppard pushed into him, Rodney had over a dozen bite marks and
bruises on him and the resulting endorphins made his whole body hum. Sheppard
had him on his hands and knees, and when he tried to push back, tried to get
Sheppard to fuck him harder, Sheppard held him still.
"Please," Rodney moaned. "Please please please, sir!"
Sheppard slinging an arm around Rodney's waist was all the warning Rodney got;
he braced himself as Sheppard sat up and back, pulling Rodney into his lap.
Rodney loved this position; in some ways it felt more intimate than fucking
face to face. Sheppard's chest was warm against Rodney's back and his arms were
tight around Rodney's waist and chest, holding him close. He leaned his head
back on Sheppard's shoulder and sure enough, Sheppard bent his head and bit
Rodney's neck, right above the collar.
"Yours," Rodney said as Sheppard began to fuck him. "All yours."
"Mine," Sheppard growled. He took his time, fucking Rodney slow and so deep
Rodney would be feeling it for days. And he made Rodney wait until Rodney was
so hard it hurt, until his whole body shook and his nipples ached where
Sheppard had been playing with them and each bruise or bite felt like a
pinprick of fire.
"Please," Rodney gasped. "Please please...oh God, please, Sir."
"You want it?"
"Yes...fuck...please let me come...please...."
"Who do you belong to?"
"You, John." It was hard to string words together, but Rodney had a sudden,
brilliant idea. "Yours," he said. "I'm yours, Commander."
"Fuck," Sheppard grunted. He pushed up hard and pulled Rodney down at the same
time. "Do it!"
Rodney came so hard he almost blacked out. "Yours," he mumbled as he felt
Sheppard come. "All yours."
Later, as he rolled over and tried to fall asleep, Rodney winced as he put
pressure on one of the bruises on his hip. Shivering a little, he pressed down
on the bite mark on the inside of his arm and hoped to hell that they'd live to
do this again some other night.
===============================================================================
John hadn't expected to sleep, but to his surprise, when he rolled over and
looked at the clock, he'd managed to get about five hours. He'd tried to give
everyone who was off duty seven hours to sleep--or to try to sleep or to fuck
or whatever--but still, he got up quietly and pulled on his uniform, trying not
to wake Rodney.
He managed it and for a long moment, he stood, looking down at the boy in his
bed. Rodney had marks and bruises all over his body, several of them visible,
and John couldn't help remembering Rodney moaning "yours" over and over last
night, his voice breathless with pain and need.
"Good boy," John murmured now. "My boy."
He waited a moment, but if Rodney wasn't really asleep, he was doing an
excellent job of faking it. With a faint smile, John left their quarters and
headed for the mess hall.
It was mostly empty, although a couple of the civilian support staff were on
hand with food and pots of coffee. Early on in his military career, John had
learned that he fought and flew better on a fairly empty stomach and without
caffeine jitters, so he grabbed a warm muffin and a bottle of water and took
them with him as he headed for the gate room.
Half the morning shift was already there; John nodded to them and paused to
check the most recent sensor data with Campbell. There wasn't anything new,
they couldn't track the Earth ship in hyperspace, but based on the last reading
they had, there was no real way for the ship to arrive any sooner than five
hours from now.
Elizabeth was in her office, a plate of untouched eggs and bacon in front of
her.
"You did well last night," she said. The smile she gave him seemed genuine and
he shrugged a little.
"You'd have probably done better."
"I would have been more polished," she said. "But you weren't addressing
potential allies or politicians; you gave them what they needed to hear."
"Thanks," he said. "I've been meaning to ask you...could you write something up
for us to send back through to Earth when we contact them later? I'm planning
on sending the loyalists back alive and the other spies back dead, but I think
some kind of formal declaration of intent would be a good idea."
She nodded. "I've actually been drafting something. Once the battle is over,
I'll go over it with you."
"Good," he said. "Thanks," he added, figuring a little courtesy now could go a
long way.
As he turned to go, she spoke. "John? Good luck."
When he looked back in surprise, she had turned to her computer, her fingers
already busy on the keyboard.
Interesting, he thought as he headed out of her office.
He looked in on the defense stations--they still had the rail guns that had
been placed during the Wraith siege--and then made his way to the infirmary to
check in on Keller. She looked a little scared, but appeared to have things
under control, so he just ducked into her office and used his override code on
the security drug cabinet without pulling her away from the conversation she
was having with her nurses.
He tucked the foil-wrapped pills into his shirt pocket and then thought about
it for a moment before grabbing another two doses. When he came out of the
office, Keller gave him a knowing look, but she didn't say anything, so he just
nodded at her before pausing to chat with some of her people.
Ronon was waiting for him when he left the infirmary.
"Where the hell have you been? And where's your guard?"
John rolled his eyes. "And people say I'm the paranoid one. All the Marines
have more important things to do and almost all the Athosians are overseeing
the people on Bespin." Even though there was no one in the hallway, he lowered
his voice. "And I thought it would make me look more confident in my people if
I didn't have anyone watching my back."
"Tough," Ronon said. "I'll be with you for the rest of the day."
"It's possible I was counting on that." John jerked his thumb back at the
infirmary. "You need....?"
"Nah, I have knives."
Rodney and Namin weren't in John's quarters when he checked back in, but he
found them in Rodney's lab. Rodney was in the middle of rigging one of the
Ancient screens to show the 'Lantean systems sensor data when John and Ronon
walked in the door.
"I thought we'd make some popcorn," he said. He was obviously trying to be
nonchalant, but the corners of his mouth and eyes were tight. "Watch the show."
John reached for his arm, pleased when Rodney winced a little as John put
pressure on some of his bruises. Pulling Rodney into a corner, he thought about
trying one more time to convince him to go to Bespin, but no, they'd covered
that last night.
"Here," he said instead, handing Rodney the two extra foil packets.
"What's this?" Rodney said.
"Cyanide," John said. "Standard issue for officers. You don't have to take it;
I think if you were somehow captured, you'd be able to convince them that you
were coerced."
Rodney took the pills, reading the small lettering on the foil. "This is two
doses."
"They might let you live, but not Namin. Suicide in the face of capture is
pretty common here in Pegasus, but I don't know what kind of plans he might
have made."
"Oh." Rodney stared at the pills for another moment and then shoved them into
his pockets. "Look," he said, suddenly earnest and a little scared.
"I'm...just...oh, fuck. Try not to die, okay?"
"I'll do my best, I promise," John said.
After gripping Rodney's shoulder tightly, he was turning to leave when Rodney
spoke again.
"Colonel?"
"Yeah?"
"You must have gotten somewhere with me," he said with a crooked little smile.
"I'd blow the ship up too."
"That's my boy."
John swung through the gate room again after leaving Rodney's lab. Teyla was
there now, settled in next to Campbell. It was her job to coordinate between
the gate room and the chair room; while John would be able to tap into the
sensors once he was in the chair, he'd learned that juggling weapons systems,
defense systems and the sensors was exhausting. Having Teyla take one of those
tasks over would make a huge difference.
"I have told my people how little the people on Earth value them," she said
quietly, after they'd gone over the battle plans one more time. "We know how
important this battle is, not just to those of us here in the city."
"Because I needed more riding on my shoulders," John said.
"One more reason to defeat them," she said firmly. John nodded, knowing she was
feeling the same frustration Ronon and the Marines and other fighters in the
city were. They'd all rather be on the front lines with weapons in hand, but
this battle was largely John's to fight. Thinking about it that way, he felt
his concerns begin to fade way. They were replaced by eagerness; he was finally
ready to get this started.
The feeling grew as he finally made his way to the chair room. By the time he
arrived, his concentration was narrowing down to the battle plan and his role
in it.
"It's about time you joined us," Jeannie said, glancing up from the console she
was leaning over. Her eyes were bright and her movements a little jerky, but
John wasn't too worried; Jeannie did some of her best work under the influence
of uppers.
"Everything in place?"
"Yeah," she said, looking around the room. "The cloaked jumper is down on the
ocean floor and its systems and the weapon platform remote are powered and
ready to go. Simpson is in the ZPM power room, but for once we don't really
have to worry about power consumption."
"Yeah," John said. "Just as long as we don't overload anything."
"You're a fucking ray of sunshine, you know that?"
"I do my best." Taking a deep breath, he approached the chair. "Okay, let's do
this."
Even if John hadn't known about the two new ZPMs before he sat down in the
chair, he would have known as soon as the mental interface kicked in. For once,
being in the chair was like being in a powered up jumper, all potential and
information and cool power thrumming just behind his eyes.
After a moment spent adjusting to the awesome power thrumming through the
chair, he opened his eyes tapped his radio three times, activating the secure
channel to Jumper Five.
"You have a go, Fremantle."
"Copy, Colonel. Launching now."
John could feel the jumper pulling away from the city as he was shedding a
little piece of himself and he shivered a little. It was disturbing; he could
easily get lost here in the city's systems if he wasn't careful. With a
thought, he brought up the city wide communication system.
"All right, people, this is Colonel Sheppard. I'm bringing up the impulse
drive."
The drive responded to his command as easily as the communication system had
and the whole city shivered as the impulse engines came up to full power. He'd
tested them the day before, but not from the chair, and it felt completely
different, almost like the city was straining to lift of from the surface of
the ocean.
Something about that eagerness felt familiar, and for a moment John tried to
place the feeling. He was used to power at his command but this was like the
first time he'd tried to ride Loki, his mother's favorite hunter. He'd sneaked
out to the stables one morning and Loki had wanted to run and run hard. John
had stayed on him and then, later, taken his father's beating without crying.
He'd learned after that, and now he reined in Atlantis the same way he'd reined
in overeager horses. Good girl, he thought, even though the city wasn't really
sentient and didn't pay any attention to extemporaneous chatter.
"You're at full power to both impulse engines and the shields," Jeannie said at
the same time the city put the information in John's head.
"We have full power," he repeated to the city's communications. "Lifting in
five, four, three, two...lift off. We have lift off!"
The city gave a sharp shudder as it left the surface of 'Lantea's ocean and
then fought to rise against the atmosphere and the planet's gravity. The
impulse engines were up to the task, but it wasn't exactly fast; in fact, it
reminded John of flying a heavily loaded Blackhawk. It gave him time, however,
to bring up the shields and carefully maneuver Atlantis toward the position he
wanted--a high geosynchronous orbit that would give him command of half the
planet.
"We have achieved orbit," he announced. "All personnel to their interior
positions, the shields will be dropped in five minutes. I repeat, shields down
in five minutes."
He heard people reporting their positions to Teyla, but he didn't need the
information; with the amount of power they had, the placement of every single
life sign in the city was apparent to him, and he knew it was safe to drop the
shields a full three minutes before he had planned.
After the shields came down, John cut the impulse engines and the city went
silent and John checked their position--it was holding--and then turned his
attention to Jeannie. This was the moment of truth; his whole battle plan
rested on it.
"How's the jumper holding out?"
Jeannie didn't even look up from her console. "I'm going to bring it up
now...."
The city's sensors caught it immediately: for a moment a familiar energy
signature showed on the ocean's surface, as if Atlantis was still there, and
then it was almost gone, leaving a faint ghost of a presence.
"Looks good," Jeannie said. "I don't know if the Daedalus or whoever will be
able to see it or not, but if they're looking for the kind of energy traces a
cloaked city would give off, they'll see them right where Atlantis was
sitting."
John let out a quick sigh of relief. Jeannie had busted her ass to set up
something that would project an imitation of a cloaked city on the surface of
the ocean. It was the logical thing for Atlantis to do, hide from the Earth
ship, particularly after all the work Jeannie and her department had done in
the last few years combining the shield and the cloak so that they no longer
canceled each other out, work the SGC was well aware of.
"Good work," John said, turning his attention back to the city's systems. "I'm
releasing the remote weapons platform now."
The platform was cloaked with the same kind of cloak the jumpers used, but it
was easy enough for John to follow it as he maneuvered it into an orbit far
from the city's position. He checked his simplified map of the planet and
surrounding space again--the weapons platform, the faked city on the ocean's
surface, and Atlantis herself formed a V whose point was the faked city--and
then let the chair's interface go to standby.
"Freemantle, go ahead and cloak and get into position." he said, suddenly aware
of the room again. "As soon as the enemy appears, I want you stuck on them like
a burr."
After acknowledging Freemantle's response, John went back to the city-wide
communications.
"We're in position and all systems are go. So now...we wait." He let his
connection to the city fade and then sat up, the chair going dark as he shut it
down.
"Hey," Ronon said. "Eat something and drink some water."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," John said, but he took the sandwich Ronon offered and ate
it with half a bottle of water.
"How you doing, McKay?" John asked, turning to catch her swallowing a pill.
"I'm good," she said. "I'll crash for a week, but not until this is over, I
promise."
"Good enough for me." He touched his radio. "Teyla? You making sure the troops
take their breaks?''
"Yes, John," she replied. "The support staff is going around with food and
water now. Elizabeth tells me that the appropriate phrase is 'confidence is
high.'"
"Glad to hear it."
John waited until he ducked into the bathroom to take a piss before he called
Rodney.
"How're you two holding out down there?"
"We're fine," Rodney said. "Interesting strategy; I thought you said you didn't
know anything about tactics."
"I don't, but I can be a sneaky fucker."
"Make that a mean sneaky fucker," Rodney said with a chuckle.
"After this is over, I'm going to show you mean like you've never seen it."
"God," Rodney said, a little breathlessly. "You're unbelievable. Um...in a
totally hot, good way. Sir."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah."
"Hold that thought."
"I will. Good luck, John."
"Thanks," John said.
It was absurd, but he found himself smiling just a little when he settled back
into the chair.
An hour passed, and then another, while John did his best to keep from going
crazy. He chased some intriguing information down in the city systems, but
mostly he went over his battle plan over and over, more and more sure that he
wasn't going to be able to capture the enemy ship.
Enemy ship, he thought, wondering when he'd really started thinking of Earth
that way. Probably even before Lorne's coup attempt, maybe even before he'd
left Earth itself. John had never been particularly patriotic. While he'd known
all his adult life that the strong arm of the State was better than chaos, he'd
grown up close enough to the center of power to be cynical about the people who
actually ran the State.
Dave had been the one destined for politics while John had been expected to run
the business, and so John had never really thought about what he would change
if he were involved in running the State. Now, however, he was going to be in a
position to set up some kind of new government, and while he had no idea what
to do, he was beginning to know what he wanted.
It was nebulous, but he knew that first of all the Wraith had to go so his
people, his city, could be safe and prosperous, and maybe, with the careful
introduction of trusted allies, grow. It would take time, but they had power
now, and perhaps they could find more ZPMs and learn even more about Atlantis.
The city hummed under his fingers as he thought about its potential and all of
a sudden, he was furious with Earth, with the State.
Now that the city was truly his, now that they had severed their ties with the
world that, as he'd said the night before, no longer wanted them, he was eager
to start over, to build something strong and lasting here in Pegasus.
Come on, he thought. Get here so I can blow you the fuck out of my sky and move
on.
Twenty-five minutes later, the Daedalus finally obliged him, and while he'd
been hoping for the Apollo under Carter's command, there was something fitting
about it being Caldwell he faced. Caldwell who had done his best via back
channels and dirty dealing to take Atlantis away from John. Caldwell who'd been
careless enough to get himself snaked by the Goa'uld and had still managed to
not only hold on to his command but continuously imply that he thought John was
a disgrace to the uniform.
Fuck you, John thought, fighting to keep from just firing on the ship the
moment she dropped out of hyperspace.
Instead, he listened in as Caldwell initiated contact and started attempting to
bargain with Elizabeth. There was nothing he could offer, and John was pleased
when Elizabeth stood strong and refused every offer Caldwell made.
All while they were verbally sparring, all while the Daedalus was scanning the
ocean, Jeannie was directing Atlantis's own sensors in a search for weak spots
in the Daedalus's own shields.
"They don't have anything new," she reported while the city gave John the same
information. "But damn, the life signs on the ship are...."
"Yeah," John said, his eyes narrowing as he took in the bright cluster that
represented the ship's company. "That's one hell of a big occupation force."
"If we keep this up too much longer, they might find us." Jeannie said after
another moment.
"Freemantle," John said, across the encrypted communication channel between
Atlantis and Jumper Five. "Fire the warning shot."
The city's sensors showed one of their few super drones streaking across space
to explode right off the Daedalus's bow. The ship instantly fired back with
intent to destroy, but John wasn't at all surprised when they missed the
jumper; Freemantle was a damn good pilot.
"Caldwell," John said, trying not to sound too smug. "I've got more of those
and a few other surprises. If you surrender, we'll send you, your whole crew
and even all those extra passengers you're carrying back to Earth."
"Bullshit," Caldwell said, and Asgard plasma beams lashed out at the supposed
site of the city.
John closed his eyes and directed the energy beam from the remote platform,
before sending the platform itself moving in an evasive pattern.
It wasn't necessary.
"Holy shit," John murmured as the city's sensors relayed the data back to him.
He'd aimed at the middle of the ship, just forward of the 302 bays and, from
what he could tell, he'd scored a perfect hit.
Unfortunately for John's plans--and for the Daedalus herself--the weapon sliced
right through the ship's shields and through the hull, breaking the Daedalus's
back in the process. John stared in shock, awed--and more than a little turned
on--by the power he'd unleashed as the two great pieces fell apart.
"My God," he heard Jeannie whisper. Still overwhelmed himself, he swiveled the
chair around and saw her staring at the sensors in shock. "I...fuck," she
muttered.
"Yeah," Ronon breathed, but when John looked at him, Ronon looked less shocked
than Jeannie. When he realized John was watching him, he grinned tightly. "Can
you imagine that up against a Wraith ship?"
"Yeah," John said, and goddamn but he wanted to see that. Another ship of
enemies breaking under a weapon he directed with his mind? Oh fuck yeah!
Taking a deep breath, he pushed his feelings aside, ignored his erection and
checked the sensors to see if any part of the ship was at all salvageable.
"What do you think, McKay?" he asked. "Anything worth saving over there?"
"Not really," she said, blinking a little as she tried to concentrate. "We
already have the specs of the Prometheus class ships and, apparently, we don't
really need to try to salvage their weapons or the drive because our own are
clearly better. As for survivors...hardly anyone's still alive."
Another thought, and a stream of drones poured out of Atlantis and blew the
unshielded pieces of the ship into smaller and smaller pieces until there was
nothing but a rapidly expanding cloud of metal fragments where a ship had once
been.
"Dear me," Elizabeth said into the command channel. "That will make nice
footage to send back to Earth."
"And if they don't get the message," John said, with a smug smile. "We'll do it
again."
An hour later, after they'd collected the jumpers and the weapons platform and
contacted Bespin to inform the Athosians of their victory, John set course for
Atlantis's new home and put the ship into hyperdrive.
All their plans were already in place and Elizabeth was still working on their
message to Earth, so John ordered everyone, aside from a small crew set to
watching the ZPM power room and the gate room, to stand down and relax.
He sent Ronon off with Jeannie to watch over her while she came down from the
stims and made his way to Rodney's lab. Namin took one look at him, murmured
his congratulations and stepped outside of the lab.
"Here?" Rodney said. "Are you sure you don't want to...."
"Did you see it?" John said, reaching for Rodney.
"Yeah," Rodney said. He squirmed out of John's grasp and John had maybe a
second or two to wonder what he was up to and then Rodney was going to his
knees and reaching for John's fly. "She broke right in two," he said as he
undid John's pants. "My...the drone platform snapped her in half."
"Your drone platform," John said and then he groaned as Rodney took him all the
way in in one smooth glide of lips and tongue and mouth and throat. Rodney
moaned and then choked, but he didn't fight it when John pulled back and then
immediately shoved back in.
John had every intention of fucking Rodney later, but he didn't bother to hold
back; they'd have plenty of time. "Gonna fuck you," he growled. "Gonna fuck you
from here to the new planet...."
He came with the image of the Daedalus breaking apart behind his eyes and the
feel of Rodney's throat closing around the head of his dick.
                                     * * *
It took them six days to reach their new planet, which was situated three
quarters of the way across the galaxy--much further than they could had gotten
without the new ZPM--from 'Lantea. As much as he would have liked to, John
didn't spend the entire time in bed with Rodney.
In fact, he didn't spend much time in bed at all. First he had to break down
the battle with his officers; while it hadn't really been much of a battle,
they still needed to start thinking about how their new weapons could be used
against the Wraith.
And then there were planning meetings with Elizabeth and Teyla--long sessions
while they figured out short term, medium term and long term needs. Even more
complicated were the meetings with what John started calling the Executive
Committee--his team, Elizabeth, Keller, Jordan and Teldy--as they tried to
hammer out some kind of plan to govern Atlantis and the allies, such as the
Athosians, who had tied their future together with the exiles from Earth.
It was a process that would take much longer than six days, and John was
relieved to sit back down in the chair and bring the city out of hyperdrive
over their new planet. Landing the city was easy, and soon they were able to
open everything up and breathe un-recycled air.
'Lantea Two was colder than 'Lantea, but there was enough land in the temperate
zones along the equator to farm for food, and there seemed to be plenty of
animal life. They'd be able to feed themselves if they needed to, although
Elizabeth was already getting ready to negotiate new treaties with some of
their allies.
Three days after they landed, they dialed Earth from a deserted planet by
boosting a jumper's DHD with the crystal from Atlantis's DHD. Once they
established communication with the SGC, John sent the recorded message he and
Elizabeth had written through the wormhole.
"Stargate Command, this is Commander John Sheppard, speaking for the Atlantis
Executive Committee and the people of Atlantis.
"We are dialing you from a shielded jumper on an uninhabited planet light years
from 'Lantea, so don't bother sending a bomb or troops through the gate. If you
choose not to believe me, the only people you'll kill will be the loyalists
we'd like to send back to you. The Daedalus was destroyed with all hands less
than an hour after it left hyperdrive over 'Lantea. Atlantis suffered no losses
in the battle.
"In exactly five minutes, we will return the loyalists, the bodies of the spies
you tried to place on Atlantis, and our formal declaration of succession from
the State. As we stated in our last message to you, we have no interest in
Earth or in any of the planets of the Milky Way. However, while we will not
return to attack Earth, we will continue to defend ourselves, using whatever
force necessary, against any and all forces you send against us.
"Sheppard out."
"They'll be back," John said, much later that night. The lights were out, but
he'd left the curtains open and two of New 'Lantea's three moons were in the
sky.
"Yeah," Rodney said. "And you'll just have to kick their asses again and again
until they get it."
"We'll have to kick their asses," John said.
"Yeah," Rodney said with a laugh. "I guess we will."
-the end-
End Notes
     Notes: So many people to thank! First off, my fabulous betas--
     Darkrose and Helens78! Without Darkrose, this story would never have
     happened and without Helens78, it wouldn't be nearly as good as it is
     now. If there are any mistakes, they're mine and not the fault of
     those two wonderful people.
     Secondly, there were a lot of people who encouraged me, listened to
     me, read my whiny posts and generally cheered me on when I was ready
     to throw my hands up in the air and quit. Special thanks to the Usual
     Spatulites and to all the people who told me over and over how much
     they were looking forward to this story. Also, I owe thanks to "the
     Colonel Sadist Wallpaper Nonnie" for the fabulous wallpaper I stared
     at while doing the final edit. Your Colonel is truly inspiring.
     Thirdly, I'm writing this before I've seen the art, but I'm confident
     enough to say thank you to both Fanarts_Series and Saldemonium for
     their wonderful art. I have to give special thanks to Sal, because
     over a year and a half ago, she bought my fic services at a charity
     auction and gave me a prompt that led to Make the Devil Feel Surprise
     and then to this one. I think I promised her 5,000 words at the time
     and here I am with 108,000 words and a planned third novella in the
     series as well as some shorter pieces set in the same universe. Sal
     doing the art for this feels like coming full circle.
     Finally, thank you so much to gblvr, who ran Atlantis Big Bang all by
     herself this year and was amazingly understanding when I sent her the
     first rough draft an hour before the deadline. She's a fabulous mod
     and a wonderful person!
     The title of the story is from the Blue Oyster Cult song "Burning for
     You." If it had a subtitle, it would be "The Continuing Adventures of
     Colonel Sadist and His Boy Wonder."
  Works inspired by this one
      Giving_The_Devil_His_Due_covert_art_and_Wallpaper by marlislash, Mine by
      Sal
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