Chapter 2

“Where is General Sheppard?” McKay questioned as Boötes appeared on the pedestal next to the doors leading out of the docking bay. A bay full of sleek ships clearly designed for air and space maneuvers that had people very excited.

Boötes inclined stared for a moment. “Noble Actual is on the observation deck.”

“Why do you call him that?” McKay questioned.

“The term actual is a military designation the commanding officer of a mission or group of military assets,” Boötes explained and Rodney nodded. “Noble Actual was the leader of Special Warfare Group One for Spartan Command. That group had four teams of Spartans—six Marines each, a crew of 1300 for the Cradle of Stars, a squadron of fighters, and two squadrons of dropships for the 800 ground troops we were to be assigned.”

Rodney’s gaze flicked to the fighters. “Those are two-man ships.”

“Yes.”

“So, he was to have a crew of over 2,200 people on this ship,” Rodney said and several men behind made little noises of shock or maybe appreciation. “So, the term Noble refers so the Spartans under his command?”

“Yes, four Noble teams. He trained all of them. Fortunately, none of them were on board when the accident happened. They were on Earth being sorted for the mission. We only lost the ninety-six crewmen who were given the honor of retrieving Noble Actual from Reach.” Boötes paused. “He’s on the observation deck putting their names on the memorial wall.”

“And the bodies?” McKay questioned. “Do you have them stored on the ship?”

Boötes stared for a moment. “No, Dr. McKay, they were destroyed in the slip termination. Everything organic on the ship was destroyed. I thought, for long horrifying moment, that I’d lost him as well. I was relieved that his stasis pod within the armor station protected him. It wasn’t rated to do so.” The avatar looked over Rodney’s shoulder. “You’ve brought different people on board.” He paused. “Without Noble Actual’s approval.”

Rodney winced. “Is that a big deal?”

“Yes, quite,” Boötes admitted. “Such a thing is an immense breach of protocol. Military assets of his experience and caliber find great comfort in order and protocol, Dr. McKay.”

Rodney considered that. “Options on correcting this mistake?”

Light shimmered across the avatar’s surface and a soft ping sounded from the pedestal.

“Boötes tells me you’ve brought some unnamed friends on board my ship, McKay.”

“Yes, I didn’t realize that was a thing.”

“Be more concerned by the fact that all three of them certainly knew it was a thing and did it anyway,” General Sheppard said dryly. “As it happens, with rank comes a profound belief that one is welcome wherever one wants to go.”

Rodney shot Jack O’Neill a look and the Air Force general shrugged.

“Were I genuinely offended by it, your little ship would’ve been refused entry,” Sheppard said dryly. “Boötes show them where I am.”

Boötes displayed even as the comm channel closed then the avatar disappeared with a flash of light.

“I think,” McKay said flatly and turned to face O’Neill, Rampart, and Sumner. “That you should all shelve whatever privilege you normally enjoy and respect this man’s space. And that space is defined as this entire giant ass capital spaceship.”

“Granted,” Rampart said.

McKay sighed, picked up his laptop bag and left the docking bay. The others followed along behind them as it was generally accepted that he had the best report with General Sheppard, and they were prepared to leverage that. He figured they really had no idea what they were dealing with, but he knew that all three men were good, if some what used to getting their way.

They were guided down a wide hall, across a passage that resembled a skybridge and into an elevator. It started moving with no input from them the moment they entered and he made a face because he kind of hated that. The elevator opened to another long, somewhat boring looking hall narrow light panels on the wall shimmering in the direction they were clearly meant to go.

It turned into a five minute walk, and that felt a little crazy since he was on a spaceship. Though, technically, Atlantis was space worthy and even with teleporters it would take longer to cross the city. The observation deck was behind a pair of double doors that opened before they reached them.

General Sheppard was using some kind of laser pen to carve names on to a wall. At the top of the wall was a simple brass plaque that said: LET US HONOR THE FALLEN WITH A STRONG AND NOBLE HEART.

Rampart walked across the room and stood next to the Spartan. “The AI said ninety-six.”

“TSI,” Sheppard murmured. “Transcendent Synthetic Intelligence. I lost ninety-six during the slip termination. The others were lost before that. The war with the Covenant has taken an immense toll on the UNSC.”

“Did you carve all of these names personally, Son?” Rampart questioned.

“It is traditionally the duty of the highest ranking officer on a ship. The Cradle of Stars has been mine since she was commissioned five years ago, so yes, all of these men and women died fighting with me. They’re mine now—it’s my duty to live and fight for them as long as possible.”

“My name is Randolph Rampart.”

“Current Commandant of the United States Marine Corps,” Sheppard said. “Boötes has been getting me up to speed on current military leadership on Earth. Your service record is impressive, sir.”

“I read through what Boötes gave us of yours,” Rampart said and McKay put his laptop bag on a metal bench not far from where Sheppard was working. “Which wasn’t much, considering we were also told that you’ve served in the UNSC for twenty-seven years.”

“We sent a summary at Colonel Sumner’s request,” John said. “It seemed the best place to start as I’m not entirely certain what you and your people know about Spartans.”

“Very little, our single experience with a Spartan was relatively brief and focused almost entirely on the…kidnappings. We were told by him that only three were still alive. At least three from the kidnappings that happened in 1975.”

“I was never privy to that list, General Rampart, so I can’t tell you about the ones that were alive when Sergeant Bryce destroyed the Forerunner device ONI used to do it. He worked for ONI directly as personal security for the scientist who developed the Spartan armor.” He cleared his throat. “In fact, he was the only one to get the names. I was trained with eighty other children and Bryce was amongst them. We were all taken from our families—some came from a different time period. A fact we didn’t know until about a decade ago, and we decided as a group to not be told the names as it would do nothing but create more resentment.”

“Children.”

“Yes, based on my service record, I know that I began Spartan training in Project Orion at the age of five,” Sheppard said and Rodney’s stomach clenched in horror. “Since those first three years involved intensive biomodification, my memories are best described as hazy.”

“Do you remember your family? Parents?” Rampart questioned.

“I have vague memories of a man I believe to be my father,” Sheppard said and stepped back from the wall and focused on Rampart. “Why do you ask?”

“Because your name was on that list of stolen children that Edward Bryce gave us, General Sheppard. You were kidnapped in 1975 from your family’s home in Virginia.”

“Boötes,” Sheppard said and a pedestal spun out of the floor next to one of the windows. “Did you know?”

“No, of course not,” Boötes said. “I’d have told you long before now, despite the decision you all made without any input from a rational mind like myself.” He paused. “And I would’ve dedicated myself to destroying Dr. Halsey. You know that ONI took great care to remove any and all data regarding the kidnapped children from public and government databases to further cover up what they’d done. You identity records were sanitized before we ever met. I was told you were thirteen years old, your name, and the level of biomodification you had at that time.”

“Yes,” John said. “I was the oldest by a few weeks. Why didn’t they just give us new names? Why invest so much effort—in sanitizing files that were hundreds of years old?”

“Considering how much mental conditioning you endured as a child, perhaps they understood that creating mental health issues in regard to your identity was an unnecessary risk,” Boötes speculated. “Would it be unsavory to do whatever is necessary it prevent the birth of Halsey?”

“Probably,” Sheppard muttered. “But I consider it a goal, regardless.” He walked away from the wall and went to a small tool kit that was open on a table and tucked the laser device he’d been using into it. “Do you know my father, General Rampart?”

“Yes, I’ve known him for decades,” Rampart said roughly. “We all have.” He glanced toward the other two men. “This is General Jack O’Neill and Colonel Marshall Sumner. I would like to know for certain that you’re who we think you are before we tell him. He doesn’t need to get his heart broken all over again.”

General Sheppard nodded. “No, there is certainly no need for that. Do you have his genetic data?”

“Yes,” General O’Neill said. “We gathered genetic profiles for the parents of every single stolen child so that in event we were faced with this circumstances…we could bring him home.” He cleared his throat. “But we understand, if you’re hesitant.”

Sheppard shook his head. “Boötes, forward my complete genome to Dr. Biro and have her confirm paternity.” He closed the tool kit and turned to face them. “I don’t know what to do with you or even with myself, if I’m frank. I went into stasis on Reach already mentally sorted for a long-term combat posting against the Covenant.

“I personally trained twenty-four Spartans for that mission. I picked them from a pool of adult volunteers—oversaw their modifications, mental conditioning, and taught them to make war with me. Now they’ve certainly been given to another. I’m glad the ship was basically empty, don’t get me wrong. But some of my crew had served on this ship with me every single day for years.

“While I had no one, but Boötes, to claim as family. I did care very much for the people I’ve been forced to leave behind. And they all think I’m dead.”

“Some losses change you fundamentally,” O’Neill said. “Closure is impossible in practically all circumstances no matter what people tell you. How can we help you, General Sheppard?”

Sheppard shook his head. “I don’t know. I suspect the powers that be on Earth want this ship, but I can’t allow that. I’m certainly willing to share the plans for every single bit of technology I possess. I can help you build more as this ship is designed to duplicate itself entirely as part of sustainability.” He cleared his throat. “But the Cradle of Stars is our home, and I won’t part with her. The first thing I did upon waking was activate the inheritance protocol which ensured that this ship and everything in it belongs to me. The whole thing will scuttle if someone takes it from me.”

“A protocol in place to keep her safe from an enemy then,” McKay said and nodded. “Smart. Because the last thing we need is for the Wraith or some other asshole we’ve made an enemy of getting their hands on this ship. Does that include Boötes?”

“Yes,” Sheppard said firmly. “I’m sure he’ll share with you whatever information you request, Dr. McKay. I won’t attempt to prevent that, but there are limits and his safety is priority for me. We depend on each other for survival and have for twenty-seven years.”

“I held you as a baby,” Rampart blurted out and everyone in the room stopped moving. “I….” He exhaled slowly. “You don’t deserve to have my emotional crap piled on top of you, General. My apologies.”

“It’s fine, but let’s save that story for later. There’s no need to speak of such things if I’m not who you think I am.”

“You said you oversaw the training and modification of adult volunteers,” Rampart said. “You’re telling us you could…make Spartans.”

“I can train Spartans,” Sheppard corrected. “But I speak from experience when I tell you that you are either born with the right stuff to be one or not. The wrong sort will get themselves killed—which is a waste of life, time, and resources.”

A ping sounded in his ear, so Rodney stepped away from them and went to the large window. The view of Lantea was lovely and that was kind of weird since he was convinced the planet was the Australia of Pegasus.

“This is McKay.”

“Rodney,” Alyssa Biro began and took a deep breath. “I have a match.”

“Wait, let me put you on tablet so everyone can hear this,” Rodney said and transferred the signal to the device quickly. “Go ahead, you’re on speaker.”

“I can confirm that Noble Actual was born on June 14, 1970, to John Patrick Sheppard, Sr and Amelia Rose Sheppard in Richmond, Virginia. He was kidnapped from their home on August 2, 1975. He has two younger siblings—David Andrew Sheppard and Matthew Joseph Sheppard. David Sheppard is serving in the SGC, in the Marines. Matthew Sheppard is an aeronautical engineer and is currently stationed at McMurdo. His father is the current Secretary of the Navy and his mother Amelia passed away in 1989 of a brain aneurysm.”

It wasn’t unlike getting punched in the face and he knew that experience well enough. Rodney focused on O’Neill when the older man cleared his throat.

“Dr. Biro, is Elizabeth with you?” O’Neill questioned.

“Yes, sir, I’m in her office.”

“Elizabeth, please have her contact the SGC and inform Colonel Carter that the situation is confirmed and she is to follow through on my already delivered orders.” Jack grimaced. “And remind her that she is not to discuss this news with anyone but Secretary Sheppard and POTUS.”

“Yes, of course, Jack. I’ll handle it immediately.”

“Thank you your quick work, Alyssa,” Rodney said and closed the connection when his fellow scientist made a little noise of appreciation. She had worse social skills than he did so he wasn’t offended. He focused on Noble Actual. “Do you need some time, General Sheppard?”

“No.”

“Are you certain?”

“I was told decades ago that my family was dead, Dr. McKay,” General Sheppard said quietly. “They fed me that lie repeatedly until I stopped questioning and took it as a truth. It wasn’t until much later when the kidnappings were revealed that I learned I was probably taken from my parents. But even then, there was no records of where I came from. Or, in this case, when.”

“And you still continued to serve,” McKay said. “Why didn’t you just tell them to fuck off and die?”

The Spartan shifted briefly on his feet, and one hand curled briefly into a fist then he shook his head. “I think I’ll take that moment after all.”

McKay started to speak but then pressed his lips together as Sheppard turned and left the room. He focused on the avatar who was standing silent on a pedestal not far from him.

“A Spartan’s commission with the UNSC ends when they die, Dr. McKay,” Boötes said. “Most won’t live long enough to die of old age—they are subject to organ and limb replacements without discussion or permission. Every single thing that can be done to make them able to serve is done to keep them combat ready.

“In the armor, he does not need sleep or substance. His strength, stamina, and endurance is moderated and controlled by a series of biomodification implants that are governed by his neural implant. As he was commissioned as an officer shortly after his thirteenth birthday, Noble Actual was not and never has been given a choice regarding his service as a Spartan. It’s all he knows.”

“He’s five years older than he would be if he’d been left where he belonged,” Rampart said. “I don’t know why I never considered that possible. He was a charming and sweet child. I hate this. I hate this more for his father who is going to be…very difficult to deal with. We won’t be able to keep him on Earth, O’Neill, so start working on making his travel as safe as possible. There would be no explaining his loss to the IOA without revealing Noble Actual before we’re ready.”

“General Rampart, I’ve permission now to share General Sheppard’s service record. If you’ll go down the hall and enter the third room on the right—you’ll find a terminal open for your use.”

All three military men immediately headed for the door so Rodney followed as he was curious but also he wanted to have some idea of what Sheppard and Boötes had gone through together.

* * * *

“Are you all right?”

John leaned on the sink, and stared at his own face. It wasn’t necessarily rare as he didn’t live in the helmet or the armor the way some Spartans did. His rank and position on the Cradle of Stars had given him more freedom than that. He wet a cloth and rubbed his face roughly.

“You know I’m not,” he admitted.

Boötes hummed a little. “Dr. Biro has forwarded a dossier on your family. Do you want it now or later?”

“I’d prefer to see their faces in reality first,” John admitted and swallowed hard. He took a deep breath. “How am I…supposed to deal with all of that? I don’t know how to be anyone’s family, Boötes.”

“Well, you’ve never failed at a single task you set for yourself,” Boötes said. “This won’t be an exception. They’re all in the office you assigned Rampart reading your jacket.” He paused. “Are you sure that was wise?”

“He’s the highest ranking Marine on Earth,” John said roughly. “He certainly deserves office space on this ship and any other ship he puts a boot on.”

“You know what I meant,” Boötes said.

“I don’t think I’m capable of staying out whatever fight is happening out here, and I’m not sure I can go back to origin system right now, so I need a target—a task.” He paused. “And we need a fucking crew. So yeah, I’m sure. Prep and offer all of the AVI files you have available from our personal missions as well. Classification clearly doesn’t matter in these circumstances—we’re on our own, Boötes.”

“And your family?” Boötes questioned. “Where do they fit in?”

“I don’t know,” John admitted. “But I have you and that’s been enough since the day we met. Maybe we’ll get lucky on that front, but if not we’ll still have each other.” He pushed the cloth into the recycler. “How are your resources?”

“I need to do some mining. There is a large asteroid field not far from Atlantis. I figured I’d send out some harvesters. We need permission or we’ll have to find an unoccupied system to mine. I need titanium, iron, nickel, cobalt, and steel. I need to build an orbital construction station, and we’ll need to discuss that with leader of the expedition. So, yes, I agree we need a crew.”

“If we’re going to build them ships—let’s start with the Orion class,” John suggested. “Start figuring out what tech they currently have that will marry with that design and figure out where we’re going to have to get creative.”

“It’s the best choice,” Boötes agreed. “And it’s roughly twice the size of the ships they currently have. I’ve scanned those from a distance as one as come and gone from the city at least three since I got close enough to see. I’ll make a list of materials they’ll need to provide and request resumes for a scientists. We’ll need several.” He paused. “Hundred.”

John laughed. “Let’s start something reasonable—like ten and let McKay pick them.”

“Thank you, John.”

John focused on Boötes as the TSI had rarely called him by his first name. “For what?”

“For trusting me so much that you see a man you can trust in Dr. McKay. It means a lot.”

“You’ve earned him a lot of grace, Boötes, but I don’t think of you as the same person. Your experiences have shaped in you ways that the organic version would probably be horrified by.”

“Granted, he never got swallowed by a flood-infested space octopus,” Boötes said wryly and John laughed. “Let’s figure out where those things are and kill the shit out of all of them before they wake up.”

“The space octopi or the flood?”

“Why not both?” Boötes demanded.

John leaned on the counter and laughed. “Wait. You think the space octopus was worse than what whole shit show on Tau Ceti 6? Seriously?”

Boötes made a face, sighed, then huffed. “They didn’t try to eat us.”

“No, they just tried to use my armor to bargain territory with the Covenant and then jettisoned me from the planet with a fusion powered trebuchet when they found out General Holland was coming for us. Taking his place in the field didn’t work out great, now that I think about it. So, he definitely owed us a rescue or two.”

“And that’s how we ended up getting swallowed by the flood-infested space octopus,” Boötes said and pointed at him with one finger. “So that’s basically all the same shit show.”

“I consider those two events entirely separate. Trust me, being slung off a planet without a vehicle was much worse than getting swallowed by a space octopus.”

“You slept through most of the space octopus incident!”

“Exactly! Because I passed out shortly after I broke atmosphere,” John retorted and shrugged when Boötes scowled at him. “The organic version of you looks pretty hot when he glares at people. Did you notice?”

Boötes stared at him in horror, huffed, and disappeared without another word.

John grinned and picked up his helmet. He might as well go deal with his uninvited guests.

* * * *

“This is horrific,” Sumner said quietly. “They forced them to mature physically and put them in war.”

“Yeah,” McKay said as he sorted through the medical data on his laptop. “He was size of a grown man by the time he was nine years old. He has degrees in engineering and biomedicine. I didn’t expect that.”

“Officers are required to have degrees, McKay,” Sumner pointed out.

“Yeah, sure, yours is in combat engineering, right?” McKay lifted his head and focused on the Marine. “I do pay attention to such things, Colonel. That being said, how many Marines do you have in your command who have a PhD in biomedicine?”

“Not a single one,” Sumner admitted. “But his career speaks to a different kind of Marine than the ones we’re used to.”

“It looks like his intelligence set him apart from his peers very quickly,” Rampart said as he stared at the terminal. “He’s been awarded over a dozen combat medals—including the UNSC’s version of the Medal of Honor.” He sat back from the terminal and focused on O’Neill. “Best case scenario is that he let’s me take him into the Corps. We’ll need to involve the President but he’s more than on board with the whole thing and basically ordered me to take a knee.”

“Are you going to give him crew? Men and women to turn into Spartans?” McKay questioned. “That’s a dangerous road, General. We can see how it could play out. What if someone gets their hands on that tech and starts seeing children as a viable option right now?”

“The biomodification implants that I have available to me only work on mature bodies and they can’t be adjusted to do otherwise. Plus, they’d need Forerunner technology to force physical maturation. Boötes has already purged all of that data from his system so we can’t replicate it. And I intend to make sure no one finds the planet all of that information was. It’s not gate accessible at any rate.” Sheppard focused on McKay. “But speaking of, Boötes wants some scientists. He’ll give them back.” He paused. “Eventually.”

McKay’s gaze narrowed. “If either one of you think for even a second that I’m not one of those scientists, I’m going to ruin lives.”

“Doesn’t the city need you?” John questioned.

“They’ll be fine.” And he held up a hand when Sumner started to speak. “I’ll end you, Marshall. Don’t get in between me and science. I’ve ruined people I genuinely liked for trying that shit.”

Sumner frowned and focused on O’Neill.

“It is the position of the IOA that McKay works exactly where he wants to, Colonel,” O’Neill said. “They don’t want to get on his bad side.” He paused. “For obvious reasons.”

“Sir, if he’s not there to wrangle those people on the city, they’ll blow everything up.”

“I’ll send Carter and her mini-me out here for a while. Lt. Haley could use some excitement,” O’Neill said with a shrug and McKay only briefly considered protesting that.

“Yes, they’ll do fine,” McKay said and picked up his laptop. “Now, I want to go back to that lab you were in when we woke you up. I want to study the armor.”

“You think I’m gonna let you into my armor?” Sheppard questioned and Rampart snorted.

McKay paused because his face was probably a deeply unfortunate shade of red. “That’s not…why are you all like this?”

“You’re the one trying to get in my pants,” Sheppard muttered and left the doorway. “Without even buying me dinner!”

“Boötes says you don’t even eat!” McKay called after him then picked up his bag and followed. “Which is crazy, Sheppard! You should’ve rioted. Food is great.”

“I can eat, McKay, I just don’t need to when I’m in the armor,” Sheppard retorted.

* * * *

Patrick exhaled slowly. “They’re certain, Colonel?”

“Very, sir,” Sam Carter said. “General O’Neill went to Atlantis personally to verify both the arrival of a Spartan and confirm the identity because we were given a name before he left Earth. Noble Actual agreed to provide his genome for confirmation.”

“Noble Actual,” Patrick repeated. “What do you know?”

“Precious little,” she admitted. “He provided a summary of his service and rank in the UNSC. Brigadier General, twenty-seven years of service, with degrees in engineering and biomedicine. He was in command of the ship he arrived on before the accident, and is the only survivor. He has a personal digital companion that has been with him since he entered military service. I don’t have specifics on that as nothing was transmitted officially. Unofficially, I’ve been told that it is a synthetic intelligence—not artificial.” She paused. “A synthetic copy of Rodney McKay.”

Patrick considered that for a moment then slowly nodded. “That’s good.”

“Is it?”

“Well, a smart and loyal person is the best sort to have at your back,” Patrick said and stood. “Arrange my transport to Cheyenne Mountain as soon as possible. Make sure that Matthew and David are there when I arrive—I’ll handle telling them personally.” He paused. “I never told them, Colonel, where their brother had been taken. I didn’t want them to have that burden.”

“I understand sir,” Carter said. “I would’ve…done no differently. There appeared no hope that we’d get any of them back.” She paused. “But they’re going to be furious.”

Patrick smiled briefly. “I know the men I raised, Colonel. Though I do appreciate the head’s up.”

He waited until she disappeared in a flash of light before slouching back in his seat and closing his eyes. “God, Millie, I’m so fucking sorry you’re not here for this.”

Patrick cleared his throat as he stood and he allowed himself to slide his thumb along the underside of his bare ring finger. He’d forced himself to take off the wedding ring long before he wanted because he’d been trying to move on for his boys. After a moment, he picked up his private lap top and slid into his bag then retrieved his go-bag from the closet.

The red phone on his desk started to ring so he went back to it with a grimace. He’d taken a place in the man’s administration despite how much he couldn’t actually stand Henry Hayes. He was a patriot and even finding out a future version the UN had basically taken his baby boy hadn’t changed that. It had, in fact, ensured that he entrenched himself firmly in the government. Because he wanted to be in the know if there ever came a chance to retrieve the children stolen from them.

“Mr. President.”

“Patrick,” Henry Hayes said and sighed. “I don’t know what to say to you—I never have. O’Neill warned me in advance what he might find in Pegasus, and I agreed that they should verify first. I hope that isn’t pissed you off.”

“It’s better to know for certain,” Patrick said roughly. “I don’t do well when presented with false hope.”

“No, I can’t see how you would. Especially not on the subject of your sons. I told O’Neill and Rampart this—give General Sheppard whatever he needs to be comfortable and secure in joining us in our defense of the planet but he’s not to be pressured at all in any single way. He’s valuable, yes, for his abilities and his future knowledge. But he’s also an American warfighter—I don’t give a fuck who trained him or when. He’s ours and he was always meant to be ours. And we take care of our people. I trust you won’t let anyone misuse him.”

“The IOA is going to find out about him.”

“I’ll declassify the entire thing and let them deal with the fallout if they demand more than is reasonable in this situation,” Hayes said roughly. “And they know it. You have permission, Secretary Sheppard, to protect your son in every single way you can—with my full authority and backing.”

“That’s…surprising.”

“I have two sons and one daughter,” Hayes said roughly. “There isn’t much I wouldn’t do for them and that includes burning my own career to the ground. I can’t and wouldn’t fault any man in your position with doing what is necessary to protect his own. Good luck in Pegasus.”

He started to respond but got hung up on.

Patrick put the phone down with a huff. “Asshole.”

Forty-five minutes later, he was nursing a cup of very good coffee that had been pressed into his hand by a civilian who hadn’t bothered to introduce himself. Matthew was sitting on a sofa in the office that Patrick had been assigned in the mountain but rarely used in the past with his laptop. The door opened and David entered shedding a TAC-vest. He passed the equipment to another Marine, eyes dark with concern and dropped a field pack into the man’s hands before shutting the door.

“Dad, what’s wrong? You aren’t scheduled to come here for another month.”

He stood from the desk and abandoned the coffee and motioned to the sofa. “Sit, please.”

David sat and Matt slowly closed his laptop which he set aside as Patrick pulled the guest chair across the space and sat down directly in front of them. “Are you sick? Dying?”

“No, I promise, I’m fine,” he assured and they both relaxed. “I need to talk to you about John.”

Matt leaned forward but David shook his head and averted his gaze.

“David,” Patrick said gently. “I know you hate to talk about the…about losing your brother but we don’t have a choice.”

“Yeah, okay,” David said and allowed Matt to take his hand. “I just wish I remembered him that’s all. I was only two years younger—I should remember something.”

“You’re being very unfair to yourself,” Matt said quietly. “Why do we need to talk about John? Did they find evidence? A body?”

Patrick took a deep breath that went ragged on him and both of them lurched forward a little. They each took a hand. “Not a body.”

“What?” David questioned. “Talk to us.”

“Your brother was kidnapped using alien technology,” he said and cleared his throat when they both clenched their fingers around his hands. “You’ve not held my hand in decades, David.”

“I’m beginning to regret that,” David admitted. “I kind of forgot how comforting it is. Which aliens took him and why? Was it a fucking goa’uld because if one off those fuckers is my brother—I’ll rip it out.”

“There is a war in the future between Earth and a multi-species alliance called the Covenant. They’re religious zealots and they’re goal is to destroy basically life in as much of the galaxy as possible. Both Earth and the Covenant are fighting tooth and nail over technology left behind by a race called the Forerunners.

“In 2517, the Office of Naval Intelligence for United Nations Space Command found Forerunner technology that allowed them to make serious advancements. They learned to create super soldiers, but they needed children to experiment on. When they got caught doing it to the children of their own time, they were heavily sanctioned and some of them were arrested. So, those left behind started stealing children from the past.

“Those super soldiers are called Spartans. Several days ago, a ship from the future achieved orbit above Atlantis in Pegasus. There was an accident with their propulsion system, and it caused them to time travel. Whether it was a matter of luck or fate, your brother is on that ship. He was, in fact, the only organic survivor.”

“John’s in Pegasus?” David said and his eyes dampened. “I thought…all this time that some bastard had taken him, hurt him and killed him.” A tear spilled down his cheek, and he hastily wiped it away. “Fuck.”

“I can’t say some bastard didn’t take him and becoming Spartan was not an easy road,” Patrick said quietly. “Based on the very brief summary I’ve seen of his military service, he saw combat for the first time at thirteen.”

“Those sons of bitches,” Matthew said and turned his face against David’s shoulder.

David released his hand and wrapped an arm around his brother. “It’s okay, Mattie. John was…is strong.”

“I’m going to need you to both get your heads right,” Patrick murmured and they focused on him. “He knew he’d been kidnapped as a child but didn’t know from when or where. Due to intense mental conditioning and biomodifications, John doesn’t remember much about his life before the kidnapping. He’s been told about the three of us and about your mother’s death.

“I wish I could say I could handle it if both you just go completely off the rails, but I can’t,” Patrick confessed. “There’s no getting back the time we’ve lost with John. I just need to earn his trust now. We all do.”

“I haven’t gone off the rails in years,” Matt muttered and lifted his head from his brother’s shoulder. “I did have a conniption a couple of weeks ago, but in my defense, Nicolas Rush is an asshole, and he needs to stay out of my business.”

“O’Neill sent him off-world,” Patrick said.

“He’s just trying to get in your pants,” David muttered and Patrick grinned because no matter how old his sons were, he wasn’t going to discuss his sex life with them.

Matt turned to David. “Rumor has it, that O’Neill has already sealed that deal.”

Patrick sighed and stood even as David groaned.

“Dad, you can’t bang our boss,” David protested and Matt laughed a little, but it sounded kind of sad. He turned but found that David had already refocused his attention on his little brother. “Mattie?”

“John won’t know me at all,” Matt said. “He was already gone when I was born, and Mom died—never knowing what happened. It broke her heart to lose John and it never got better. She kept that stack of flyers in her car, remember?” He pressed trembling fingers to his eyes briefly and took a deep breath. “Right, I’m gonna totally get a hold of myself any second now.”

“Your mom never gave up on John,” Patrick said quietly and they both focused on him. “I did. I let him go, accepted that he was almost certainly dead, and I feel like the worst kind of bastard for it.”

“Dad,” David said. “Absolutely no one can blame you for that. The FBI spent a full decade looking for John and even now the case is considered active. His picture is still on walls all over the fucking country as a missing child. You were made to discuss it during your confirmation hearing in front of the whole planet. That bastard, Kinsey, practically called you a bad father because your child was kidnapped.”

“He’s still getting hate mail over that,” Patrick pointed out. “He asked me to put out a press release expressing my agreement that his questions were appropriate. I told him to choke on my dick.”

“That asshole doesn’t deserve to choke on any of our dicks,” Matt muttered. “Did you get a picture of John?”

“No, Mattie, he’s in…Spartans are encased in combat armor—head-to-toe. No one out there has asked him about removing it because they don’t want to give him cause to distrust them.”

“Can make sure those bastards don’t steal anymore of our children?” David questioned. “Where is this device?”

“It was destroyed in 2001,” Patrick said. “That’s when the SGC met a Spartan for the first time. They’d discovered what had happened to them in the past and they made sure it didn’t happen again. But the device killed him in the process. I don’t have the specifics. I’ve been assured that John is in very good physical condition.”

“And mentally?”

“He’s been stripped of everything he knows for the second time in his life, David. We just need to take care with him,” Patrick said. “Okay?”

“Okay,” David agreed. “But also, you can’t bang our boss.”

“Mind your business, Son,” Patrick said and sighed when they both laughed.