Event Horizon Part Seven – By Ladyholder

Reading Time:
10 Minutes

Art by Starkindler

When the phone rang, Rodney gave it a side eye before turning his attention back to programming the computer with the parameters of their latest test permutation. It was a small tweak, but every change led to more information, and he thought that they were getting closer to an actual answer.

“Daniel… Daniel, calm down,” Carter repeated with a grin. “I take it from the call, you’re in the Al’kesh at the top of the silo?”

Rodney zeroed in on Carter and raised an eyebrow at her. She nodded swiftly, and he grinned before turning back to John. “John?”

“I’ll go let the General know that Dr. Jackson is back here. After that, you both need to get at least six hours sleep so you can be fresh when you try to wire that thing back into the gate,” John said firmly.

From the unimpressed look Carter gave him, she was just as thrilled as he was at his sentinel’s pronouncement, but when she sighed, Rodney knew that she wasn’t going to protest. Neither was he. Sleep meant that they would be able to do the wiring job quickly and with steady hands.

“Fine. Let me finish setting up this permutation, and I’ll head to our assigned quarters,” Rodney said. He could feel the length of his day in how slow his mind felt. Sleep would help. And maybe some food. John had been keeping both of them fed, so that had helped a lot.

“Good,” John said. He pressed a hand to Rodney’s shoulder and headed out.

“You two are good together,” Carter said. When Rodney glanced at her, she shrugged. “The Colonel and Daniel are much the same.”

“We had good role models,” Rodney said with a shrug of his own.

“Did you hear that, Daniel? You’re a good role model,” Carter teased. “Capt. Sheppard is headed up to tell the General that you’re here. Once we get the DHD down in the Gateroom, we’re going to need to get some sleep, so you should be able to let the General know what happened while we do that.”

Rodney stopped paying attention to her and finished entering the changes into the computer and started it up. “The last test is set up and will run while we sleep. All the successful parts of the last three tests are loaded up, and we’ll see if this lets us pull Teal’c out.”

Carter ended her call to Daniel and sighed. “He’s got the DHD, and he states that he did make sure that all the crystals were still in it. He did say that he’ll get with Siler to get the DHD down from the Al’kesh and in the Gateroom.”

“That’s all good news,” Rodney agreed. “Honestly, I’m glad I’m not going to be getting in the way of your techs here. Snagging a long nap seems like a good idea.”

“Yeah. Siler knows what he’s doing,” Carter said softly. She leaned against the lab table and stared at him. “Why are you pushing so hard on the missing signals?”

“Are you sure you want to do this now?” Rodney asked.

Carter grimaced before she nodded. “I already know I’m not going to like what you say, but I need to know.”

“Fine,” Rodney said. He stared at her for several seconds before he blew out a slow breath. “You’re a hell of a scientist. You know a lot more than I do about the tech here. You are the undisputed expert here. But you’ve also got a problem where you see the science as the only valid thing, with ethics and people coming in a distant second and third. You get away with it because you’re a beautiful woman who has had a personal relationship with the commanding officer and the 2IC of the base.”

Rodney watched as Carter accepted his words and her temper light. He could feel the heat of it move through her emotional landscape, but he couldn’t see it on her face, and he appreciated her control. He kept pushing because she’d asked and it needed to be said. “You need to remember that there are other experts in the program, and if that expert gives you information that doesn’t match your expectations, you asked for it. And you need to act on it. I know I wasn’t asked for by you, but I am becoming an expert on the stargate. I learned from your notes, from Colonel O’Neill’s notes, from Dr. Jackson’s notes, from Teal’c’s notes. And those are just some of the information sources I’ve used. You aren’t going to be the only expert on this, so you need to get used to this.”

“That’s harsh,” Carter said after several seconds. Her emotional landscape was conflicted, with anger churning alongside some lighter notes. He couldn’t get a clear read on it beyond that, and he wasn’t willing to let his shields down any further to try. “And yeah, I asked for it. I need to think about what you just said.”

“Okay,” Rodney said. He sighed as she walked out. “Damn it.”

“She needed to hear that, I think,” John said as he walked into the lab.

“Oh, yeah, I think she did. But no one likes being the person to deliver a verbal hiding,” Rodney said. “Did you talk to the General?”

John shook his head. “No. I turned around when I heard her ask for your honesty.”

Rodney scrubbed his hands over his face before he let them drop. “Okay, then I’m going to go to bed while you do that.”

“Have you eaten?” John asked.

“When you brought the sandwiches around,” Rodney reminded him. “I’m good.”

“Okay,” John said. He reached out to pull Rodney close to press their foreheads together. “Are you going to be able to sleep after that?”

“Yeah,” Rodney said quietly. He let himself lean against the strength of his sentinel. “I wasn’t happy to do that, but it needed to be done.”

“I know. Now. Go get some sleep,” John said before pressing a kiss to Rodney’s lips. “I’ll be in soon.”

“Right,” Rodney said before he stepped out of John’s arms and headed to their room.

Jack stared down the Goa’uld in silence as he mentally organized everything they’d learned. Maybourne had recorded the whole discussion, and Jack was determined that Carter and McKay would get the parts detailing the procedure to get a person out of the stargate. The rest of the information they’d learned? Well. He was going to think about that for a bit. “Any idea on when his minders will be back?”

“I expect they ‘ll be back soon,” Maybourne said with a shrug. “Are we leaving him here?”

“Only if I can kill him,” Jack said with a smirk.

“You can’t kill me,” Conrad grated out. “I’m too valuable.”

“I can. No matter how ‘valuable’ the human suit you’re in is,” Jack promised Conrad before turning to Maybourne. “But I figure I can punt him into Thor’s Hammer. That’d take care of the snake, and we can see if the human has enough of a spine to make it out.”

“Are you sure?” Maybourne asked.

“Yup,” Jack said. He pulled a zat out of his jacket pocket and quickly shot the Goa’uld. “Did you bring any zip ties?”

“I did,” Maybourne said with a grin. “Do you think the snake will come out?”

“Not now,” Jack said after letting his senses surround Conrad so he could confirm the human and the snake were unconscious. “We should have enough time to get back to the mountain. And then we can throw him into the brig.”

“So, the plan is, pass the information we’ve gotten over to Carter, get Teal’c out, and then toss the snake through the gate, correct?” Maybourne asked as he zip-tied Conrad’s hands. “I wonder if we can rig up a muzzle or something to cover his head?”

“If we did, the snake could come out through the neck, and the damn things are fast. I don’t want us to have to try to avoid a flying snake in a car,” Jack said with a shrug.

“Can you be snaked?” Maybourne asked.

“Maybe. But I don’t think I would survive it,” Jack said after several seconds of thought. “I’ve come close to being snaked. But they never broke skin.”

“And Daniel?”

Jack could feel the anger moving through his system. “The snakes all like him, but most of them don’t want to snake him. They want to get close to him any way that they can without crawling into his brain. I’ve been running interference since we started traveling through the gate.”

“Hathor,” Maybroune guessed grimly.

“Hathor,” Jack confirmed. That damn snake had messed Daniel up badly and had come close to making him go dormant before they’d been able to kill her. That whole issue was part of the reason he was so damn militant about the damn snakes.

“Right. Well, let’s make sure that this guy doesn’t have a chance to snake you. He’s as secure as I can make him,” Maybourne said. He sat back on his heels and glanced up at him. “When you get zatted, you’re out for about 2 hours, right?”

“Yeah,” Jack agreed. He glanced at his watch and tried to figure out how bad traffic would be on their way to the SGC. “It’ll take us about an hour and a half to get back.”

“And how soon can you hit this guy with another shot from the zat without killing him?” Maybourne asked.

“Hmmm.” Jack racked his brain to see if he had that information and came up with a blank. “I don’t know.”

Maybourne nodded. “Something for me to check into when I step in to run security.”

“Right,” Jack said. He walked over to stand at Conrad’s feet. “Should we park the car in the garage so we can stuff this asshole in the back?’

“That would keep the neighbors from calling the police on us,” Maybourne said with a grin. “You’re still active duty and really can’t operate in the US without permission.”

Jack waved that off before he pulled his phone out of his pocket. He needed to call the General to let him know that they were on their way back with a guest. “Bah.”

Maybourne laughed at him and walked out to move the car. “You’re starting to sound like a toddler, Jack.”

“Fuck you too, Harry!”

“General. thank you for seeing me,” John said when Hammond called for him to come into his office. The man had a white noise generator running, and John had been ignoring the whole office since he’d turned it on. Being on the inside of the field just muffled the rest of the world.

“What have you got for me, Captain?” Hammond asked.

John stood at attention as he updated the General on what had been happening. “I’ve sent Dr. McKay and Major Carter to bed. They’ve hit a point where they’re running computer models, and Dr. Jackson is back with the DHD. Dr. McKay and Major Carter will be able to start work on the DHD after it’s set up. Major Carter suggested that Sgt. Siler would be able to do that.”

“Dr. Jackson’s already stopped in to let me know they made it back with the DHD,” Hammond said with a smile. “Sgt. Siler confirmed that he can set it up?”

“Yes, sir,” John agreed, “I was able to speak to Sgt. Siler and he did confirm that he and his men can get the DHD attached to the gate. He’s aware of the 6-hour window that McKay and the Major will be sleeping.”

“That’s a good use of the time,” Hammond agreed. He waved a hand towards the Gateroom. “I did see that he’s started, so good job on that.”

“Thank you, sir,” John said. “Has Colonel O’Neill checked in?”

Hammond nodded once. “He’s on his way back and states that he has some information regarding this situation.”

“That’s good news,” John said. He wanted his Alpha on site when Carter and her temper finally ignited because he was sure it was going to happen, and he wanted someone there she might listen to. He also wanted his guide as far away from that forest fire as he could get him. O’Neill could deal with her.

“I’ll let you go to your guide then,” Hammond said. “Dismissed.”

“Thank you, sir,” John said before exiting Hammond’s office.

John threw his senses out and confirmed that Rodney was in their room. The whole base was quiet since it was late at night, and he checked his watch to see what time he should get Rodney up so he could get as much sleep as possible. Breakfast would still be served when they got up, so he would be able to stuff actual food into his scientist, and if she was behaving, he’d do the same to Carter.

When he got into the elevator, he stabbed the button to his floor and leaned back against the back wall. Jesus Fucking Christ, he was tired. He’d been going all out with Mav testing the F302 and studying for an aeronautical degree in the evenings, and he needed a break. He was going to really enjoy the sleep he was headed towards.

John opened his eyes when the elevator pinged, letting him know he’d arrived. Their room was close to the elevator, and John slid into the room with his senses still expanded. As he closed the door behind him, he let himself soak up Rodney’s presence.

“Come to bed,” Rodney mumbled from his pillow.

“On my way,” John said softly. He quickly stripped out of his uniform and draped his pants over the room’s only chair and made sure to hang his uniform blouse up so he could wear it again in the morning. A quick pit stop in the head took care of his teeth, and he slid into the bed and pulled Rodney close. He took a deep breath against his nape and let sleep pull him under.