Variations in D Major by sian1359 (PG-13)
Aug. 20th, 2010 05:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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stargateficrecShow: SGA
Rec Category: Sheppard/McKay
Characters:: Rodney McKay, John Sheppard
Pairing: Sheppard/McKay, David Sheppard/Jeannie Miller(background)
Het/Slash/Gen: Slash
Warnings:Highlight:
Author on LJ:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
sian1359
Author's Website:
Link: Variations in D Major
Why This Must Be Read:
One of the 2009 Big Bangs, this is the story of one of the alternate realities the Daedalus traveled through in The Daedalus Variations. There are multiple viewpoints used to provide the details of the long-delayed rescue mission from Earth and an exciting space battle, including David Sheppard and Jeannie Miller, Major Lorne, Ronon Dex, Rodney McKay, and the Warlord of Atlantis, John Sheppard.
Excerpt:
"I'm not picking up any evidence of a buoy," Jeannie frowned. "If it was ever here, it isn't any longer – wait. I am picking up some power readings on Athos' surface. Not from our buoy, but there is something more than just the stargate down there."
"Wasn't Athos supposed to have ruins of an old city on its surface?" Sheppard asked and proved he'd done his homework too.
"They could have hidden the message near or in the ruins so that those innate energy readings would mask the presence of a pod or buoy."
Jeannie's tone said that would have been her decision, had she been the one leaving the next breadcrumb.
"We were told to expect to find one, but this way no one else would, except by extremely random chance," she continued.
A new possibility and another option. Except Evan wasn't any keener on sending down a ground force to go hunting for snipes while two enemies were slugging it out overhead. "Captain – "
"Sir, I've found the freqs being used for chatter between ships," Cadman suddenly interrupted.
"Let's hear it." Sure, they wouldn't be able to say, hey, that's English (or Unas or Furling) to help them decide which might be the innocent party here, but there was still a chance that one side could be spouting stereotypical evil overlord dialogue and make it easy for them to figure out which side was what. As far as Evan was concerned, they deserved a little easy.
"–ries, you've got one on your tail!" they heard first.
Then, from a second, just as agitated, voice: "I've got it, Ger'nrk. You look after your own ass. Larrin, when are the reinforcements due?"
"The Warlord is on his way from Atlantis now, Aries," a woman answered. "Keep to your wingmen. Fall back to us when you can. Zelenka's almost got our shields back up."
So Larrin was in – or was the name of – the bigger ship, Evan surmised. Failed shields would definitely account for the defense formation the gateships were trying to maintain in front of the cruiser.
"Did she just say Atlantis and Zelenka?" Even if it was contrary to the Captains Kirk and Archer handbook of just charging in without consideration, Evan wanted a little encouragement from his crew before he charged in.
"That's what I heard," Marks responded and the others nodded all around. "Aries too, which could be one of ours, like a call sign. But Ger'nrk certainly isn't an Earth name and Larrin is at least uncommon."
"Not one of the names on the expedition's manifest," Sheppard stated quite firmly.
So not just having read all the AARs, but Sheppard had also taken the time to memorize the two hundred and thirty-four names belonging to the expedition. Well, so had Evan.
"Last we knew, Atlantis didn't have a warlord," Cadman chimed in.
Evan vowed again to come up with something special as payback to Sam Carter for recommending Cadman for his XO. Sure, he might not have been (nor now wanted) a completely by-the-book, tight-ass XO himself, but he'd also never been a smart ass to Edwards, not to the extent, at least, that Sam seemed to have decided he deserved in return. Cadman was like a female O'Neill, only without all of the experience – and baggage – that kept O'Neill out of the stockade for most of his career.
"Jeannie, are you reading the presence of any other ships in the area that aren't currently involved?" he ignored Cadman even though he was also bothered by the thought of a Warlord on Atlantis.
Both sets of small ships seemed to be the types that wouldn't travel great distances on their own; either coming in on the cruiser or something bigger like a carrier – or perhaps by traveling through the stargate. The ones not gateships seemed too big to be easily maneuvered through a gate.
"Negative," Jeannie answered. "That could just mean they have cloaking technology however, and not that there isn't one lying somewhere in wait."
Like the gateships had cloaking tech. Or negative could mean that the carrier could be keeping the Athos between it and the combatants, and Phoenix wouldn't find them until they moved out of their own protected spot. Or another ship could be using the energy readings coming out of the ruins to mask a planetside presence, like they hoped for the message buoy.
Regardless, it didn't look like the not-gateships were going to need backup to help them harass the others. "Okay, take us – "
"I've got stargate activation, Major," it was Marks' turn to interrupt. "Three more contacts. Tracking as additional gateships."
Likely the promised reinforcements and Warlord from Atlantis, then. For good or ill.
"Marks, come about to – "
"Shit," Marks cut Evan off again, his shock so obvious that Evan couldn't consider calling him on the unprofessional and out of character reaction.
"I've got eleven more contacts rising up from the area near the ruins. All matching the initial bogies, sir." Marks definitely sounded shaken.
"Ah, we are still being ignored," Jeannie offered in a small voice.
Thank god for small favors, Evan thought, definitely shaken himself. Seventeen versus eight…
Even if they weren't assuming these new gateships had come from Atlantis, Evan had never liked bullies.
"Laura, put me on ship-wide, then switch comms to Watson's station." Watson had moved to Damage Control when he'd given Sensors over to Jeannie.
"Go, sir."
"May I have everyone's attention?"
God, next time no civilians, please, so that he could just give orders and be done. If they were going to be any help, Phoenix needed to engage now, as the tide of battle was definitely turning to the worse for the outnumbered side. One of the original gateships just disintegrated beneath concentrated fire from four of the new arrivals.
Evan flinched even though they weren't positive that had been one of the white hats. He worked to make sure none of his unease came through in his tone. "We have encountered hostilities amongst two factions, one of which seems to be connected to Atlantis. All crew to battle stations. All civilians to your emergency stations. Civilians stay in place until you get the all clear, or if a crew member tells you differently."
Considering the military on board were outnumbered three to one by the civilians if you counted the scientists amongst them, the likelihood of any of this actually taking place…
"Until further notice, comms are for emergency use only," Evan finished up. "Medical, prepare to receive casualties." He then signaled Watson to cut the comm before the inevitable questions or complaints started filtering through. Watson knew comms (and Evan) well enough to just clear the boards.
"Captain Marks, take us in. Doctor Watson, you might as well send out our IFF ping. If Atlantis is still friendly, someone should respond to our arrival with something other than weapons fire. Lieutenant, you have still have weapons free if we're fired upon, but try to take out their engines or something instead of destroying anyone, at least until we know for sure we aren't firing on our own people."
"Signaling now, Major," Watson said from behind him, while Cadman began entering new firing solutions into her console.
They had rail guns and a few Carter-improved Goa'uld Buster Warheads, but if they got into a sustained battle, they were going to have to rely on their defensive measures more than their offensive capabilities to keep themselves alive.
"Ancestors take you! Unknown ship, identify yourself."
"That came over our IFF frequency," Watson confirmed.
To Evan's ear, it sounded like the second voice speaking out, one of the gateships tentatively identified as Aries. Aries and the two surviving initial pilots had moved to fly protective detail around the cruiser and each other, instead of trying to stay engage against the enemy directly. Six of the new raiders had caught up to the new gateships, with two more moving on toward the cruiser/escorts. And three were now heading toward Phoenix.
"Launch the F-302s." Evan then paused and took a deep breath, turning his attention to laying out what he was going to say to the gateships in his head. He had to come up with something that identified them as from Earth, as if there was someone out there who knew what that meant, but still wouldn't give everything away.
"Route my headset to ship-to-ship, Doc," Evan ordered as he thought he had it. He then adjusted his comm unit to change his broadcast from ship-wide on his end.
"You are set, Major." From Watson.
Evan metaphorically crossed his fingers. So far the raiders weren't firing on them, appearing to be content with taking sensor readings only, but his next words would probably change that.
"This is the Tau'ri vessel Phoenix," Evan began. "We are engaged in SAR operations at this time and request – "
"Phoenix," a new voice broke in over the bridge speakers, "what was Doug Flutie's Hail Mary – "
Evan froze for a moment, recognizing the voice and maybe the reference, but not quite able to believe he was hearing it. "Ah, in the movies they're always asking who won the Super Bowl or the World Series," he stalled, feeling completely off guard and overwhelmed that they really had found someone from the Atlantis expedition.
Suddenly Sheppard was leaning over his shoulder, practically close enough to kiss. "Nineteen eighty-four, Flutie threw his Hail Mary pass to Phelan with no seconds left on the clock, for Boston College's win over Miami," Sheppard spoke toward Evan's mic. "Allison made me promise to take her to the ballet before she'd give us those tickets. And then you spilled your Coke all over her lap, you son of a bitch."
Sheppard gave Evan a sheepish grin when he was done, but Evan simply unfastened his headset and handed it over.
"D-dave?" again over the main bridge speakers.
No mistake then, and the relief that flashed through the people around him at that stuttered confirmation was palpable. Jeannie Miller's face held a trail of tears and even Evan's tough, Marine XO seemed a bit dewy-eyed, something he'd normally find a way to tease Cadman about later, only he had his own rapid blinking going on.
"In the flesh, little brother," Sheppard was also obviously working at staying composed. "Along with a whole bunch of other people who came along just to find you. How about you confirm for us which side you belong to, so we can help take care of things and commence with the reunion?"
"The cruiser and puddlejumpers – er, gateships – are mine. Feel free to blow fucking holes in the guys with the big exes on their hulls."
...
Rec Category: Sheppard/McKay
Characters:: Rodney McKay, John Sheppard
Pairing: Sheppard/McKay, David Sheppard/Jeannie Miller(background)
Het/Slash/Gen: Slash
Warnings:Highlight:
Author on LJ:
sian1359Author's Website:
Link: Variations in D Major
Why This Must Be Read:
One of the 2009 Big Bangs, this is the story of one of the alternate realities the Daedalus traveled through in The Daedalus Variations. There are multiple viewpoints used to provide the details of the long-delayed rescue mission from Earth and an exciting space battle, including David Sheppard and Jeannie Miller, Major Lorne, Ronon Dex, Rodney McKay, and the Warlord of Atlantis, John Sheppard.
Excerpt:
"I'm not picking up any evidence of a buoy," Jeannie frowned. "If it was ever here, it isn't any longer – wait. I am picking up some power readings on Athos' surface. Not from our buoy, but there is something more than just the stargate down there."
"Wasn't Athos supposed to have ruins of an old city on its surface?" Sheppard asked and proved he'd done his homework too.
"They could have hidden the message near or in the ruins so that those innate energy readings would mask the presence of a pod or buoy."
Jeannie's tone said that would have been her decision, had she been the one leaving the next breadcrumb.
"We were told to expect to find one, but this way no one else would, except by extremely random chance," she continued.
A new possibility and another option. Except Evan wasn't any keener on sending down a ground force to go hunting for snipes while two enemies were slugging it out overhead. "Captain – "
"Sir, I've found the freqs being used for chatter between ships," Cadman suddenly interrupted.
"Let's hear it." Sure, they wouldn't be able to say, hey, that's English (or Unas or Furling) to help them decide which might be the innocent party here, but there was still a chance that one side could be spouting stereotypical evil overlord dialogue and make it easy for them to figure out which side was what. As far as Evan was concerned, they deserved a little easy.
"–ries, you've got one on your tail!" they heard first.
Then, from a second, just as agitated, voice: "I've got it, Ger'nrk. You look after your own ass. Larrin, when are the reinforcements due?"
"The Warlord is on his way from Atlantis now, Aries," a woman answered. "Keep to your wingmen. Fall back to us when you can. Zelenka's almost got our shields back up."
So Larrin was in – or was the name of – the bigger ship, Evan surmised. Failed shields would definitely account for the defense formation the gateships were trying to maintain in front of the cruiser.
"Did she just say Atlantis and Zelenka?" Even if it was contrary to the Captains Kirk and Archer handbook of just charging in without consideration, Evan wanted a little encouragement from his crew before he charged in.
"That's what I heard," Marks responded and the others nodded all around. "Aries too, which could be one of ours, like a call sign. But Ger'nrk certainly isn't an Earth name and Larrin is at least uncommon."
"Not one of the names on the expedition's manifest," Sheppard stated quite firmly.
So not just having read all the AARs, but Sheppard had also taken the time to memorize the two hundred and thirty-four names belonging to the expedition. Well, so had Evan.
"Last we knew, Atlantis didn't have a warlord," Cadman chimed in.
Evan vowed again to come up with something special as payback to Sam Carter for recommending Cadman for his XO. Sure, he might not have been (nor now wanted) a completely by-the-book, tight-ass XO himself, but he'd also never been a smart ass to Edwards, not to the extent, at least, that Sam seemed to have decided he deserved in return. Cadman was like a female O'Neill, only without all of the experience – and baggage – that kept O'Neill out of the stockade for most of his career.
"Jeannie, are you reading the presence of any other ships in the area that aren't currently involved?" he ignored Cadman even though he was also bothered by the thought of a Warlord on Atlantis.
Both sets of small ships seemed to be the types that wouldn't travel great distances on their own; either coming in on the cruiser or something bigger like a carrier – or perhaps by traveling through the stargate. The ones not gateships seemed too big to be easily maneuvered through a gate.
"Negative," Jeannie answered. "That could just mean they have cloaking technology however, and not that there isn't one lying somewhere in wait."
Like the gateships had cloaking tech. Or negative could mean that the carrier could be keeping the Athos between it and the combatants, and Phoenix wouldn't find them until they moved out of their own protected spot. Or another ship could be using the energy readings coming out of the ruins to mask a planetside presence, like they hoped for the message buoy.
Regardless, it didn't look like the not-gateships were going to need backup to help them harass the others. "Okay, take us – "
"I've got stargate activation, Major," it was Marks' turn to interrupt. "Three more contacts. Tracking as additional gateships."
Likely the promised reinforcements and Warlord from Atlantis, then. For good or ill.
"Marks, come about to – "
"Shit," Marks cut Evan off again, his shock so obvious that Evan couldn't consider calling him on the unprofessional and out of character reaction.
"I've got eleven more contacts rising up from the area near the ruins. All matching the initial bogies, sir." Marks definitely sounded shaken.
"Ah, we are still being ignored," Jeannie offered in a small voice.
Thank god for small favors, Evan thought, definitely shaken himself. Seventeen versus eight…
Even if they weren't assuming these new gateships had come from Atlantis, Evan had never liked bullies.
"Laura, put me on ship-wide, then switch comms to Watson's station." Watson had moved to Damage Control when he'd given Sensors over to Jeannie.
"Go, sir."
"May I have everyone's attention?"
God, next time no civilians, please, so that he could just give orders and be done. If they were going to be any help, Phoenix needed to engage now, as the tide of battle was definitely turning to the worse for the outnumbered side. One of the original gateships just disintegrated beneath concentrated fire from four of the new arrivals.
Evan flinched even though they weren't positive that had been one of the white hats. He worked to make sure none of his unease came through in his tone. "We have encountered hostilities amongst two factions, one of which seems to be connected to Atlantis. All crew to battle stations. All civilians to your emergency stations. Civilians stay in place until you get the all clear, or if a crew member tells you differently."
Considering the military on board were outnumbered three to one by the civilians if you counted the scientists amongst them, the likelihood of any of this actually taking place…
"Until further notice, comms are for emergency use only," Evan finished up. "Medical, prepare to receive casualties." He then signaled Watson to cut the comm before the inevitable questions or complaints started filtering through. Watson knew comms (and Evan) well enough to just clear the boards.
"Captain Marks, take us in. Doctor Watson, you might as well send out our IFF ping. If Atlantis is still friendly, someone should respond to our arrival with something other than weapons fire. Lieutenant, you have still have weapons free if we're fired upon, but try to take out their engines or something instead of destroying anyone, at least until we know for sure we aren't firing on our own people."
"Signaling now, Major," Watson said from behind him, while Cadman began entering new firing solutions into her console.
They had rail guns and a few Carter-improved Goa'uld Buster Warheads, but if they got into a sustained battle, they were going to have to rely on their defensive measures more than their offensive capabilities to keep themselves alive.
"Ancestors take you! Unknown ship, identify yourself."
"That came over our IFF frequency," Watson confirmed.
To Evan's ear, it sounded like the second voice speaking out, one of the gateships tentatively identified as Aries. Aries and the two surviving initial pilots had moved to fly protective detail around the cruiser and each other, instead of trying to stay engage against the enemy directly. Six of the new raiders had caught up to the new gateships, with two more moving on toward the cruiser/escorts. And three were now heading toward Phoenix.
"Launch the F-302s." Evan then paused and took a deep breath, turning his attention to laying out what he was going to say to the gateships in his head. He had to come up with something that identified them as from Earth, as if there was someone out there who knew what that meant, but still wouldn't give everything away.
"Route my headset to ship-to-ship, Doc," Evan ordered as he thought he had it. He then adjusted his comm unit to change his broadcast from ship-wide on his end.
"You are set, Major." From Watson.
Evan metaphorically crossed his fingers. So far the raiders weren't firing on them, appearing to be content with taking sensor readings only, but his next words would probably change that.
"This is the Tau'ri vessel Phoenix," Evan began. "We are engaged in SAR operations at this time and request – "
"Phoenix," a new voice broke in over the bridge speakers, "what was Doug Flutie's Hail Mary – "
Evan froze for a moment, recognizing the voice and maybe the reference, but not quite able to believe he was hearing it. "Ah, in the movies they're always asking who won the Super Bowl or the World Series," he stalled, feeling completely off guard and overwhelmed that they really had found someone from the Atlantis expedition.
Suddenly Sheppard was leaning over his shoulder, practically close enough to kiss. "Nineteen eighty-four, Flutie threw his Hail Mary pass to Phelan with no seconds left on the clock, for Boston College's win over Miami," Sheppard spoke toward Evan's mic. "Allison made me promise to take her to the ballet before she'd give us those tickets. And then you spilled your Coke all over her lap, you son of a bitch."
Sheppard gave Evan a sheepish grin when he was done, but Evan simply unfastened his headset and handed it over.
"D-dave?" again over the main bridge speakers.
No mistake then, and the relief that flashed through the people around him at that stuttered confirmation was palpable. Jeannie Miller's face held a trail of tears and even Evan's tough, Marine XO seemed a bit dewy-eyed, something he'd normally find a way to tease Cadman about later, only he had his own rapid blinking going on.
"In the flesh, little brother," Sheppard was also obviously working at staying composed. "Along with a whole bunch of other people who came along just to find you. How about you confirm for us which side you belong to, so we can help take care of things and commence with the reunion?"
"The cruiser and puddlejumpers – er, gateships – are mine. Feel free to blow fucking holes in the guys with the big exes on their hulls."
...
