Event Horizon Part One – By Ladyholder

Reading Time:
8 Minutes

Art by Starkindler

“Do you want this?”

“Well, they did headhunt me,” Rodney said with a shrug. “It’s flattering that they want me to join their super-secret project, but it’s in Nevada, and extremely isolated.”

John held his hand out, and his guide took it in a firm grip. “That can be good and bad. Any idea if they can find a spot for me?”

“No idea,” Rodney admitted. He glanced at the offer letter he’d gotten and sighed. “But we can check. It’s a Blue Book program, so who knows what they’ve got on offer.”

“Blue Book?” John frowned as he thought about that. He’d heard the phrase before, but the connection was vague. “I know that name, but I also don’t.”

“It’s what the US government files all of its deep, dark, and super-secret projects under,” Rodney said absently. He was reading the letter again and sighed. “It says I’ll be able to use my Astrophysics and Mechanical Engineering doctorates, so that could be fun.”

“I wonder what they want you to use it for?” John asked. He wriggled slightly on the couch and tried to relax before pulling Rodney’s hand up to press a kiss against the back of his hand. “Maybe some design work?”

“That could be cool. But I don’t have any experience in that, that they know of,” Rodney said with a smile.

“I know,” John said. He let his senses spool out so he could check the status of the neighborhood around them. All of the surrounding duplexes were filled with military families, and while he wouldn’t call them calm, none of them were on edge. So, a normal weekday afternoon. What wasn’t normal was the SUV driving down the street. When it stopped outside their duplex, he squeezed Rodney’s hand once before rolling to his feet. “We’ve got visitors.”

“Damn it,” Rodney bitched. He gathered together the offer letter and envelope and headed upstairs to put it in his office. John could hear the locking filing cabinet they’d bought being opened, and he let the sound go to concentrate on who was on the other side of his door.

“Good afternoon, John,” Colonel O’Neill called.

John opened the door and leaned against the jam to stare at the man he considered his Alpha. “Sir.”

“Gonna let us in?” O’Neill asked, tilting his head towards his guide and another man dressed in an Air Force uniform.

“Certainly, sir,” John said. He stepped back and let the men into his territory. As he shut the door, he could hear Rodney coming down the stairs. “McKay, we’ve got company.”

“I’ll offer them some coffee then,” Rodney said as he headed for the kitchen.

Neither of them was a good cook, but they could keep themselves fed. What they did better, though, was make coffee. Neither of them could tolerate Folgers, and so they bought a nice Kona from Hawaii. They did have milk and sugar, so they could offer that too.

“Calm down, Sheppard. We’re not here to bust you on anything,” O’Neill called.

“Why are you here, sir?” John asked.

“We have an offer for you,” O’Neill said. “But we can wait until Rodney finishes pouring the coffee.”

“John, take these mugs,” Rodney said quietly.

John gathered the mugs Rodney had poured and took them into their living room. O’Neill was sitting on the couch with his guide, and the third, unknown man, was sitting on one of the folding chairs they had on hand for their Pride to use. “Gentlemen.”

“Thank you, Captain,” the third man said as he accepted the mug of coffee.

A quick glance confirmed that the third man was a major, and his nametag read Davis. “You’re welcome, Major.”

O’Neill took the remaining mugs and passed Jackson his without inspecting it. John tried not to feel a flush of pleasure at the show of trust, but it was hard. It had been almost a year since he’d seen either of them, and he took the time to inspect both of them as he settled into the loveseat across from the couch. They looked good.

When Rodney came out with their mugs, John accepted his own gratefully as Rodney set the milk and sugar on the coffee table with his other hand. It gave him something to fidget with while he waited for O’Neill to explain why they were in his home.

“Are we going to stare at each other, or are you going to explain why you’re here?” Rodney asked after he sat down next to John.

“You haven’t changed, have you, Rodney?” Jackson asked with a smile. He took a second sip of his coffee and let out a pleased hum. “Good coffee.”

“Neither of us can drink crap coffee, Daniel. So, we’re buying what we can afford,” Rodney said shortly. “Stop trying to distract me.”

“Davis?” O’Neill prompted. He took a sip of his own coffee and nodded when the man produced a sheaf of paper and slid it across the coffee table. “That’s for Sheppard.”

John set his coffee down and picked it up. “Sir?”

“Read it first. We know you both have the security clearance for this,” O’Neill ordered.

“Right,” John muttered before he opened the packet and started reading. The first thing he noticed was the orders directing him to Area 51 to be a test pilot for an unknown plane. The second thing he noticed was that there was no end date to the orders. The third thing he noticed was that the supporting command was Blue Book. He looked up at O’Neill and raised an eyebrow. “Sir?”

“McKay, have you gotten an offer letter for a project out of Nevada?” O’Neill asked. When Rodney just stared at him, he sighed. “That was something we pushed for. The orders for Sheppard are to let you both be in the same place, even if you can’t work on the same project.”

“Area 51 is in Nevada,” John said quietly. “And my orders say this is for a Blue Book project.”

“What are you two trying to get us pulled into?” Rodney asked.

“Until you get there and sign all your NDA’s, we’re not going to be able to get into the full thing, but I honestly think you both will thrive in the roles we’re trying to get you into,” Jackson said with a smile.

Rodney made a frustrated sound and set his mug down before heading for their office. John let him go as he started flipping through the pages of the packet he’d been given to see if there was an NDA in it. “I don’t have an NDA here.”

“I have it, Captain,” Davis said. He pulled two packets of paper out and set them on the table. “We’ve prepared these for you both.”

“McKay!” John called. He took the packet with his name on it and opened it to start reading.

“Coming!” McKay said as he clattered down the stairs. He had his offer letter in hand and huffed when he saw the NDA waiting for him. Rodney picked up his own copy and started reading as he made sure to settle in next to him.

It took time for John to read through the pages of the NDA, and he had so many questions ricocheting through his head as he finished. “What have you all been doing?” he asked. When O’Neill handed him a pen, he held it while Rodney finished his copy. “Rodney?”

“We’ve got to do this,” Rodney declared as he hit the end of his packet. He plucked the pen out of his fingers and signed his NDA quickly. “Sign it, John.”

“You’re sure?” John asked as he accepted the pen back.

“I am,” Rodney promised. He waited until John had signed his NDA before he turned to look at O’Neill. “You found aliens?”

The laughter that erupted from O’Neill sounded pleased, and John held his peace as Rodney huffed at him before turning his attention to Jackson. “Daniel?”

“We’ll explain the whole thing, but yes, we found aliens. We’ve got a lot of their tech that needs to be backwards engineered and translated into something we can use,” Jackson explained. “We need flexible minds that can look at what we bring back and make new things. John, we’ve got a new plane that is under development, and it needs test pilots who can tell us exactly what’s happening with it. You are one of two pilots that has been headhunted for that position.”

John sucked in a breath at that. To be on the cutting edge of the development of a new plane? “I’m in.”

“I figured you’d like that,” O’Neill said after he calmed down. “You’ll be able to use your degrees as well.”

“That’s great, and I’m all for working with the alien tech, but we’ve also got a Pride,” Rodney said after several seconds. “Will we be able to bring them as well?”

“Have you added anyone to your Pride since we last talked?” O’Neill asked. He held his hand out to Davis and accepted the pile of paperwork the man handed him. “I’ve got packets for Stackhouse, Markham, and Bates.”

“Those are the only members we have,” John said. He shrugged when O’Neill raised an eyebrow at him. “We’ve explained how we acquired three Marines before, sir. It’s not like I was going to be willing to leave them behind.”

“You had to have given their command fits,” O’Neill muttered.

“We can’t talk, Jack. A good part of our Pride are Marines too,” Jackson reminded him with a smile.

“Don’t remind me,” O’Neill said. “Stackhouse and Markham are an S&G pair, aren’t they?”

“They are. Bates’ is latent, but only barely. I expect that when he meets his guide, he’ll flip online. We’ve been training him with that thought in mind,” Rodney explained.

“I figured,” O’Neill said. He waved the NDA’s before setting them down on the coffee table. “Call them over so we can get them briefed. Once we have you all on the same page, we’ll explain what you’re walking into.”

“Right,” John said. He got up to go find his cell phone. He had a feeling that O’Neill and Jackson had brought them chaos, mayhem, and change to their lives. And nothing would be the same ever again.