- – - -
Rodney frowned at Keller but let her spread his hand out. “I’ve never hit another person in my life. I don’t believe in violence.” He glared at John then. “This is your fault. I was never violent before.”
“Just tell me and the General what happened so we can deal with this through the proper channels, Rodney.”
“Cole came into my lab and looked at me like he was disgusted. He was very angry; I could feel it pouring off of him without even trying. He starts ranting about how he goes on a two-week mission through the gate and comes back to find that Sumner is gone and some fucking fag is now in charge of the Atlantis mission. Then he pointed his finger at me and said it was all my goddamned fault that Sumner was gone and then he grabbed my arm.” He jerked his fingers away from Keller. “Hey, Dr. Barbie, watch it.”
She laughed. “Get new material, McKay. Barbie and cheerleader jokes are so old to me that I can’t even properly get mad about them anymore.” She took his hand back. “If you would calm down and accept my connection with you I could subdue the pain centers in your brain.”
“Oh.” Rodney looked at her with interest. “Really, you can do that?”
“Yeah, I can do that. I spent several years being trained to do that.” She smiled when he nodded and relaxed in her hold. “Just take a deep breath for me.”
John waited until he felt the pain subside in McKay and glanced at Keller in shock. He’d heard that some Guides could do it but he’d never seen it in practice. “So, can we get to the part where you hit him?”
“Well, he grabbed me.” Rodney frowned. “That was really invasive and presumptuous of him to think that I would tolerate that. Just because I’m not a soldier… it doesn’t mean people can just grab me and jerk me around. So, I got freaked out when he touched me and I punched him in the face. Then you arrived.”
“It’s not an uncommon reaction to an unwanted touch,” Jennifer murmured as she ran her fingertips gently over several of Rodney’s fingers. “Especially in a newly bonded Guide. It could take months before you can tolerate the touch of anyone but your Sentinel with any kind of patience. Even then it will be distasteful to you.”
“Really?”
“Really, you should actually pay attention to the information the Council puts out about bonding, Dr. McKay.” She smiled. “Good news is that is your hand is not broken. Bad news is that you don’t know how to throw a punch. You’ve strained your thumb and dislocated two fingers.”
“I’ve never hit anyone before, you know. I didn’t even get into fights in school. Most people are really very nice to Guides. They can’t help it.” Rodney looked at his hand. “So, dislocated?”
“Yeah, this might hurt a little.” She jerked his middle finger decisively and John hissed in a breath of sympathy. Rodney barely flinched.
“Your pain management thing is pretty cool. I mean…” Rodney leaned forward a little to look at his hand. “I felt that but it was more pressure than pain.”
“Good. One more and then we’re going to ice your hand.” She rotated his ring finger gently and then pulled hard. The snap of it going back into place was so wretched that she grimaced. “Okay, the worst is over so I’m going to back out of your head and you’ll want to firm up your primary shield so you don’t project all of this pain on the Colonel. We’ll get you something for the pain and an ice pack.”
- – - -
“If he’d hit him back I probably would have killed him,” John admitted softly to O’Neill. “I don’t know what I would have done if he’d still had his hands on him when I walked in. I stupidly assumed that all the men on this base understood that they shouldn’t touch a bonded Guide. Daniel Jackson has been here for seven years.”
“Carter and Jackson also have a platonic bond.”
“Which I really don’t get.”
“Daniel was married when they first bonded. His wife was killed a few years ago but I don’t think Daniel ever really got over her. I don’t know that he ever will.” Jack sighed. “I’ll dust off the Idiots Guide to Sentinels and see that everyone on the base gets a copy for required reading. I believe it’s especially important for all of the Expedition members – especially since there are now three bonded pairs on the mission.”
“Yes.” John was silent for a minute and then he asked a question that he’d been thinking about for a while. “What happens if we don’t come back? What are you going to tell the Sentinel Council?”
“The Pentagon hasn’t decided how they are going to explain your disappearance or your long term unavailability. We’ll be able to keep them at bay for a couple of months—six at the most before we have to admit anything at all. Officially, all three of Sentinels will be stationed at McMurdo during the Atlantis mission. It was a hard choice for them to make, as they really aren’t going to want to admit to the Council that they sent three Sentinels on what could be a suicide mission – that being said we’re at war here and we’re barely keeping the Go’uld and the replicators at bay. If it’s not one fucking thing it’s another.” Jack stood up and started pacing. “We need to send the best to Atlantis and hope it all works out. It’s all that we can do.”
“I should tell you that most of the Sentinels I’ve encountered in my career would never leave the military on the sole word of the Council. When it comes right down to it, General, I’m an Air Force man who happens to be a Sentinel. I went to Seattle because you told me to. Otherwise, I would have told the Council to kiss my ass. We all accept this status quo around here, but when it comes right down to it the Council has a little actual power over us. My duty is to my Guide, to my planet, to my country, and to my oath. They don’t even enter the picture on the big scheme of things.”
Jack stared for a few minutes and then nodded. “Sam has said similarly in the past. It would certainly cause a great deal trouble if the Sentinel Council ever decided to try to put themselves in a better situation by pulling the Sentinels.”
“In the past, their advocacy and their protection was necessary. I’ve benefited from the power they do wield in the past, most recently, and probably will in the future. Their agreement with the military currently protects my relationship with my Guide—a relationship that would get me tossed out of the Air Force and/or maybe prison otherwise. I’d like to see a time in the future when we don’t need the protection of a political entity to be treated like human beings.”
“The government went overboard in the beginning – the unknown scares the hell out of people and suddenly we had a small percentage of the population demonstrating gifts of psychic ability and advanced sensory perception that defied what we knew about the human condition and our own history as a species. Granted, you and I know a lot more about our origin as a species than the average man. It’s easy to see that the Sentinels and the Guides both come from the Ancients. We’ve yet to encounter a Sentinel or a Guide that didn’t have the ATA gene.”
“We all come from the Ancients.”
“Yes, some closer to the part of the family tree than others.”
“Doesn’t explain people who have the Ancient gene but who aren’t manifesting Guide or Sentinel tendencies… like yourself.”
“I’m something of a mystery,” Jack admitted. “My gene is nearly as strong as yours but I do not have the Sentinel or the Guide genes in my genome. It’s an anomaly that even the Asgard can’t figure out and they’ve tried. They do believe that the Sentinel/Guide genes, specifically, may be the solution to their own cloning problem. One of the main problems they’ve had with their cloning procedure and perhaps the transfer into a body similar to our own is that the human brain isn’t capable of maintaining an Asgard consciousness. That being said they’ve started to experiment with gene splicing because Guides and Sentinels both use a greater portion of their brain—nearly fifty percent more than the average human being.”
John inclined his head. “So some of the blood that Carson Beckett took from me went to the Asgard?”
“Yes, it’s part of our agreement with them. Don’t worry—we have a very strict treaty with them. They would never make a clone of you specifically.”
John shrugged. “Look, as long as I don’t have to go to a planet full of John Sheppards I really wouldn’t care. And, on a side note, they have to promise that if they do clone me that the clone gets to keep his dick.”
Jack sputtered and then started to laugh hard. “Christ, Sheppard.”
“What? You can’t tell me that doesn’t bother you!” It bothered him and he blamed his Guide. Every time Rodney thought about the Asgard, he fixated on their lack of genitals.
- – - -
“How is your hand?” John asked as he picked up all of the clothes that Rodney had shed the moment he had entered their quarters.
“Not so bad. Dr. Barbie gave me a good painkiller and the ice helped a lot.”
John shook his head. “Don’t call her that; it’s disrespectful and it might catch on with the Marines if you do it front of them.”
Rodney snorted. “They’d only do it once. She really does have abnormally large needles. I saw some of them. One looked like the head of an ink pen it was so freaking thick. She said it was for cortisone shots and stuff. I think she’s injected plastic into people with those things. And for the record, you started that Dr. Barbie stuff in your head. I can’t help that I picked it up.” He watched John from their bed. “You really are a neat freak.”
“Thirteen years in the military, McKay, it gets beaten into a man pretty early on one way or another.” He dropped the clothes in a laundry basket and looked at him. “Do you have any ideas about why O’Neill isn’t like us? His ATA gene is as almost strong as mine.”
“You know Carson Beckett is the same way. ATA gene but no Guide/Sentinel gene at all. Not even a latent or dormant one. What we do know is that we’ve yet to encounter a Guide or a Sentinel who didn’t have the gene. So maybe the ATA gene acts as a catalyst for those who have the potential to be one or the other. Maybe we’ll find the answer on Atlantis.”
“I have a meeting with Dr. Weir tomorrow,” John confessed as he lay down on the bed beside his Guide. “I haven’t even seen her since the day we bonded.”
“Still pissed with her?”
“Her intentions were not malicious so no—I’m not still pissed with her. That being said, she probably isn’t going to like me very much after the meeting.”
“Why?”
“Because I’ve already told O’Neill that four of the people Weir has picked out for her diplomatic unit, aren’t approved by me for the mission. He backs me on the issue and it’s not going to be a great scene. Speaking of which, there are three scientists that I don’t want.”
Rodney sat up and glared at him. “Excuse me?”
“They make my gut itch. I don’t want them on the mission.”
“Who?”
“Kavanagh, Keener, and Phillips. Their personalities are not hardy enough for what we could face out there and you know it. I realize you picked them for their brains, but I don’t see them as people we can count on in times of crisis.”
Rodney sighed and dropped back on the bed. “Okay, let me think about it. Do I get a say in this or what?”
“You’re my other half on all fronts, McKay, of course you get a say. I just don’t want them. You’re welcome to try to change my mind.” John rolled to his side. “So, do you want to go to Antarctica with me tomorrow?”
“Absolutely. I want to get you in the control chair and see how it reacts to you. O’Neill makes it all excited and it hums. Your gene is stronger so that situation is made of win. I absolutely will not tolerate another scientist getting to play with you in the Ancient control chair before I do. I think it might skirt close to infidelity.”
- – - -
“Dr. Hamilton has degrees in psychology and political science.” Elizabeth Weir was stiff in her chair; her posture betraying her fury.
“He also has a substance abuse problem,” John responded coolly. “His drink of choice is vodka and he starts before breakfast. I realize you like the man but we can’t afford to take a risk on Hamilton.”
“You’ve denied four of the ten people I have personally chosen and determined that I can only take five. General O’Neill can’t possible approve this.”
“We need more room in the expedition for the sciences. The five slots from the diplomatic unit will be shared between computer science and engineering. General O’Neill has given me all the authority I need for the Expedition. You’ll have to figure out which one of your people remaining you can do without, Dr. Weir. I understand and value the role that you and your team will play on Atlantis but you must understand that we have a huge task ahead of us.”
“So you’re already giving into McKay’s wants no matter how it might damage the expedition.”
“Actually, Dr. McKay would like me to dump botany, psychology, sociology, archeology, and anthropology.” John raised an eyebrow. “Since that would be ridiculous I told him to shut up about it. We are going to a place that was seemingly abandoned ten thousand years ago. If even half the problems exist in Atlantis that exist with this outpost—we need all the engineers we can get. These decisions aren’t personal.”
“What role do you see me taking in the expedition?”
“I anticipate you and your people working to ensure our survival on Atlantis by establishing alliances, trade agreements, and treaties with the native peoples of the Pegasus galaxy. If the Ancients populated it the way they did the Milky Way, we have the potential for a great many allies and enemies. You’ll do second contact missions – once the military has determined the relative safety of such a mission. You will be our ambassador to a new galaxy, Dr. Weir.” John watched her relax, her pulse slowed down. “I’m not the man you thought was going to go to Atlantis with you and I’m sorry if that has you off your stride. We have to work together, Dr. Weir, I’d rather do it in a way that benefits the mission and all of the people we are taking on a potential one way trip with.”
“Then you should call me Elizabeth.”
“Elizabeth,” John repeated. “Please feel free to call me John or what ever you are comfortable with. I understand that you’ve had very little interaction with Sentinels or Guides – they don’t really allow us to play on the political landscape for obvious reasons.”
“I’ve been researching and reading.” She flushed then. “I would like to apologize for what I said the first day. I really didn’t understand.”
“Most mundanes don’t understand completely and that’s fine. It’s something that we’ve learned to deal with over the years. We can all thank God we’ve moved beyond the point to where we can actually work together with some level of trust.” He glanced back down at his tablet PC. “I do have a question.”
“Okay.”
“Dr. Simon Wallace?”
“Yes.”
“Sumner initially refused his inclusion in the mission. I’ve reviewed his file and I don’t understand why. He would have been ideal to lead the psychology department.”
“Dr. Wallace and I are personally involved. Colonel Sumner was adamant that there not be personal relationships between the upper levels of the administration.”
“I’m going to review the situation further. I haven’t interacted with the three psychologists currently assigned to the mission yet. They tend to avoid Sentinels and Guides a like. Wallace is attractive to me because he actually has treated Sentinels in the past. Since we have three on the mission… that’s a quality that makes him high on my list of people I want going through the gate.” He watched her eyes brighten but she kept from smiling. “I’m not trying to buy you off, Elizabeth, by bringing your lover along for the trip. At this point, I can’t even say it’s a complete yes. That being said, I’m very interested in meeting him.”
“I’ll let him know to expect you.”
- – - -
The base was one big glass igloo on top of a large hole in the ground and it was a hair above frigid even with heaters. John watched his Guide dart around in a bright orange fleece with affection. Seeing McKay in his element was probably the highlight of the entire trip. He was chatting excitedly, his hands waving around, with a small Czech man that John knew to be Dr. Radek Zelenka. Sumner had refused him because he was from the Czech Republic. John had put him back on the list this morning. Zelenka had met them at the door with a stream of excited Czech that portrayed excitement, thanks, and ire for not being on the expedition to begin with. He came within inches of hugging John but Rodney cut him off easily and without spoiling the man’s mood at all.
They were both circling the control chair and talking in half sentences. Watching them work and talk, John was stunned that Rodney had been prepared to leave the small man behind. Rodney turned then. “We get one personal item for the mission. Radek was going to be mine. Sumner didn’t even know what he was in for.”
John started laughing. “I see.”
“I’m not an item,” Radek muttered but laughed as he walked toward a workbench. “Come sit in the chair, Colonel.”
John glanced towards Rodney who nodded and he gamely walked over to the chair. The moment he got within a foot of it, the damn thing lit up. Both scientists stared at him in shock and Rodney pushed him the rest of the way, and into the chair. It tilted back, brightened, and the small room it was in filled with a rhythmic humming that soothed his very soul. “Is this the way the city will feel?”
“I don’t know,” Rodney whispered. “Tell me what you feel, John.”
“Like I’ve found a missing piece of home.” John took a deep breath. “This is… Rodney… if Atlantis is anything like this it would explain so much.”
“I don’t understand.” Rodney said, his voice straining and John turned him and projected directly at his Guide. Giving him everything the chair was giving him. Rodney swallowed hard. “It’s never done this for me.”
“It’s what you give me,” John admitted. “It’s a very small portion of what you do for me as a Guide. Do you understand?”
“The chair is mimicking a human Guide.”
“Yes.” John nodded. “If the city can do this… it would confirm what we suspect about the lineage of the Sentinels and Guides.”
“Yes.” Rodney nodded and took a deep breath. “Are you ready to interact with it?”
“Tell me what to do.”
“John, think about where we are in the solar system.”
A steady stream of excited Czech and French follow the sudden appearance of a 3-D holographic map of the solar system as it appeared over John’s head. “So, huh, Canada.” He was really going to have to learn French because his Guide used it a lot when he got really excited.
Rodney started tapping on his computer. “Think about Atlantis.”
And there it was, they all stared as a city with sweeping lines and towers sprung up beautiful and amazing in the middle of an ocean of blue. The same blue that John knew so well. The color of his Guide’s eyes. “The Sentinel Council will have no reason to complain about our going on this mission when they find out.”
“No.” Rodney agreed. “Because it’s our home. It’s the birthplace of the Sentinels.” He reached out and touched John. “We’re going home.”
“Yes. Home.”
- – - -
Samantha Carter hovered near the chair. She’d never sat in it and she felt like a fool for it suddenly. Her ATA gene was very weak and she’d never thought she’d be able to work the chair. “John?”
“Just relax, Sam, and sit in the chair. We won’t know if I’m unique if we don’t test it.” John glanced towards O’Neill who looked tense. They both knew that if she reacted the way John had that they would be hard-pressed to keep her on Earth.
Sam slid into the chair, it lit beautifully underneath her, and she shuddered. “Oh God.”
Daniel reacted immediately, moving forward and sweeping his Sentinel from the chair, cradling her close to his chest as a sob burst from her. “Rodney.”
Rodney came forward, wrapped his arms around them both, and leaned into Sam.
“What did it do to her?” John demanded.
“It overwhelmed her; she’ll be fine in a few minutes,” Rodney murmured.
“I don’t understand.”
Rodney stepped back and Daniel took Sam from the room. “Their bond isn’t as strong as ours, John. They aren’t true partners in every sense of the word. The chair offered her more stability and comfort than she’s ever gotten from her bond with her own Guide. It was more than either of them could tolerate.”
John’s mouth dropped open. “The chair…”
“Interfered with their pair bond,” Rodney stared at the chair for a minute and then with a small sound that portrayed curiosity slid into it. It lit under him and spun gently around as it initiated. “Come touch the chair while I’m in it.”
John put his hand on the armrest close to McKay’s arm and the chair responded with a gentle hum. “Tell me what you’re thinking.”
“Sex.” Rodney sat up and the chair responded by spinning back into a position so that he could leave it. “A Sentinel/Guide bond isn’t fully developed without it. It’s why bonds made through sex are quicker, stronger; why it is easier to do it that way than with the bonding ritual.”
“That is…” Jack O’Neill sighed. “How exactly are we going to pass that information along to the Sentinel Council?”
“We won’t be able to until they are clued in on the Stargate Program and Ancient technology.” Rodney frowned. “However, we can start spreading the words through our own private communities that sex strengthens and protects the pair bond. Most couples aren’t platonic but those that are should at least be informed.”
- – - -
Daniel closed his eyes as Sam relaxed in his arms. “I’m an idiot.”
“No.” Sam took a deep breath. “No, it’s not your fault. It was a decision we made when we first bonded, Daniel.”
“When we first bonded I was married,” Daniel murmured and pressed a soft kiss against her temple. “That has not been the case for four years and I’m sorry. I had no idea that I wasn’t giving you all that you needed from me.”
“No, don’t talk like that.” Sam clutched at him, her fingers fisting of into the material of his shirt. “I promised myself when you came back to me… after you died that I would have you in my life anyway that I could and be satisfied with it. I don’t need more than you can give.”
“A piece of ten thousand year old technology just interacted with you on a level I’ve never been able to. Do you know what that felt like for me?”
“Like I tried to sever our pair bond,” Sam said. She sat up and rubbed her face. “I’m sorry; I just wasn’t prepared for it.”
“No. God, don’t ever apologize to me for that.” He pulled her close again. “I think I just got a very harsh glimpse of what it felt like for you when I died. For a few seconds, it was the most agony I’ve ever known. What are we doing? What are we doing that we would deny ourselves the fullest measure of bonding available to us?”
“I don’t know. I never wanted to pressure you.”
“I heard Sheppard. He said the chair gave him an echo of what he felt from his Guide.” He touched her mouth with shaking fingers and swallowed hard. “Please tell me we can still have this. Tell me that we can fix this hard place that just sprung up between us.”
Her eyes widened briefly and then she took a deep breath. “Let’s see.” She leaned in and brushed her mouth over his. When she pulled back, he followed her and captured her mouth in a deeper and more passionate kiss. They parted, both gasping for air. “Okay, yeah, I think we can totally fix this.”
“Thank god,” Daniel responded as he maneuvered her out of his lap and down on the bed they were sitting on and laid them both down.
“Which one?” She laughed softly as she shifted beneath him. “Your head is full of so many gods and goddesses.”
“I thank them all. Every single one.”
- – - -
“About time,” Rodney muttered from behind his laptop. “I’ve never thought platonic bonding was natural for a Sentinel.”
John laughed and shook his head. “Get out of their bed, McKay.”
“I totally removed myself from their heads the moment I stopped touching them. He just needed me to help with his shields while he fought with hers. I’m not in their bed or their heads. That being said, I’ve shared mental space with them for years and even though he isn’t projecting yet—it’s coming and it’s going to make this whole base smile for days.”
- – - -
Dr. Simon Wallace was one of the coolest customers John had ever come across. His mind was precise and orderly, much like a seasoned military man. His body, like his mind, was well ordered, in shape, and not a single motion was wasted as he moved around his large desk to sit in a chair.
“Elizabeth tells me that I’m being reconsidered for the expedition. I can’t say that I understand that. Colonel Sumner was very clear on his decision and why he made it.”
“Colonel Sumner is no longer in charge of the Atlantis Expedition.” John looked around the psychologist’s office; pleased by the Spartan look of it. He hated clutter and had never understood anyone’s need to collect and hoard things. “We have three Sentinel pairs on the mission, Dr. Wallace, two of them very newly bonded. They will both have been bonded less than a year when we leave Earth. As you know, new bonds are fragile and can cause problems especially in the first couple of years.”
“How are you adjusting to be being bonded after being alone for long?”
John shot him a look. “Excuse me?”
Wallace smiled. “I looked you up, Colonel Sheppard. I’m aware of your circumstances though some things are not public record. I had no idea that Sumner had been replaced on the mission and Elizabeth would never violate the terms of her security clearance to tell me details of that sort. She takes her commitments very seriously.”
“It’s one of her best qualities,” John admitted. “As for my bond, I would only be willing to discuss my situation in-depth with you if you were assigned to our mission and our conversation would be protected under doctor/patient confidentiality. Generally speaking, we are moving through the stages of our pair bond and growing emotional connection as well as can be expected for two men who’ve never had a serious relationship in their lives.”
Simon laughed. “It’s all anyone can really do, Colonel. I can promise that it will get easier and the more you trust each other the better things will be. You know all of this. I’ve worked with Sentinels for a long time… both children and adults. I’ve helped latent adults come to terms with the emergence of their gifts and I’ve also helped older Sentinels deal with the loss of them.”
John nodded. “I’ve read your file as well. To be honest, Dr. Wallace, I didn’t come here to talk to you. I came here to evaluate you so that I could determine if I could trust you enough to take you to another galaxy.”
“Trust me with the Expedition or trust me with your Guide?”
John turned to face him, “In this instance it means the same thing, but you of all people should know that a Sentinel’s first and last thoughts are always centered on his Guide. Every choice I make is about him and his safety.”
“And what have you decided about me?”
“That you’re a good man; you’re comfortable in your own body and in your thoughts. The only part of you that is all twisted up is… your affection and attachment to Elizabeth. It’s something I understand perfectly.” He checked his watch. “I have to catch a flight back to Colorado. I promised my very impatient astrophysist that we’d have dinner off base in a real restaurant with people who are going to wait on him and treat him like the genius he is.”
“When will I know your decision?”
John paused at the door. “You’ll receive your contract and confidentiality agreements within the hour, Dr. Wallace. You have three days to report to Cheyenne Mountain. Your work will begin immediately. I want the entire expedition interviewed and evaluated by you before we leave.” He paused and he inclined his head. “There is a Sentinel is this building?”
“Yes, he’s in a catatonic state.” Simon grimaced. “He’s been here for two months.”
“Zone out?”
“Not technically. His Guide was killed. We were told that he has not spoken since.” Simon stood from his desk. “Would you like to see him? Most Sentinels who come into the building request to meet with him if they know that he is here.”
“Yes.” John nodded. “Yes, please.”
He was silent as Simon led him down the hall to a set of stairs. It had taken John an hour to even enter the mental hospital where Simon Wallace worked and as he’d stood outside of the facility trying to push back the smells of death, antiseptic, and the general rot of the human condition he’d desperately wished that he’d suggested they meet over a meal. They went down two flights of stairs and passed through a security checkpoint. Simon explained carefully that most of the patients in the section weren’t dangerous but were segregated for their own protection.
John felt his stomach drop dramatically when he caught sight of the man. In seconds, images of him moving and laughing appeared in his mind and he knew that Rodney knew him. His cell phone started to ring immediately and he reluctantly answered it. “Sheppard.”
“Where the hell are you?” Rodney demanded breathless.
“I was just about to leave the hospital where Dr. Wallace works when I felt another Sentinel in the building. I asked to see him. I’m standing outside of his room.” John swallowed hard. “Rodney, who is this man and how do you know him?”
“Lt. Colonel Cameron Mitchell. He was with the SGC, lead SG1 for two years; he bonded with someone from off world. She disappeared during a battle three months ago and Cameron lost it. The Sentinel Council took him for treatment. We haven’t…” Rodney sucked in a breath. “John, we haven’t been able to find him. He’s in a goddamned mental hospital?”
“Yes.”
“I’ll kill that sonofbitch!”
“Director Morris didn’t tell you?”
“He said Cameron chose to take a leave of absence!”
John pushed back the anger that his Guide was broadcasting in FM and focused on the Sentinel in front of him. “He’s catatonic, Rodney. Wallace says it’s not a zone-out.”
“Well, how the hell would he know? He’s not a Guide.” McKay ground out through clenched teeth. “He’s an Air Force man, a level five Sentinel, a fucking hero, and I’ll be goddamned if you’re leaving that fucking mental hospital without him.”
“I have no intention of leaving this building without Colonel Mitchell. You have my word.” He glanced at Wallace who was staring at him in shock. He closed his phone carefully as if the sound of plastic meeting plastic was more than he could handle. “Dr. Wallace are you going to Atlantis with me?”
“Yes.”
“Then you acknowledge that you are currently under my command?”
“Yes, Colonel Sheppard.”
“I want Colonel Mitchell prepped and ready to travel in five minutes. He’s leaving with me.”
“That’s not the name the Sentinel Council used when they put him in the facility. They are going to know that you removed him from the building within minutes of it happening. You know that, right?”
John looked at Wallace with hard green eyes. “I’m counting on it.”
- – - -
Sentinel Fordham, and three others were on the ground waiting on them when they landed in Colorado Springs. The black Humve from the SGC was parked beside them as John walked down the stairs of the private plane.
“Fordham.”
“Sentinel Sheppard. We were informed that you’ve taken charge of a mentally damaged and fragile Sentinel without the consent of the Council. We’re going to have to take custody of Sentinel Mitchell.”
“Colonel.” John flicked his gaze at the other Sentinels as three soldiers rolled out of the Humve with his Guide. “Colonel Sheppard. Lt. Colonel Cameron Mitchell. The Sentinel Council lied to the Air Force about his condition, tossed him in a facility that caters to mundanes and left him there. As far as I’m concerned, what I do with Colonel Mitchell is none of your business.”
He glanced over his shoulder and watched as Dr. Wallace gently lead a seemingly unseeing and unhearing Cameron Mitchell down the stairs of the plane.
“We are prepared to use force.”
John smiled then, predatory and full of all the malice he’d had stored up on the three-hour plane trip that had brought him home. “I’d rather not have to call Director Morris and explain to him that I’ve killed four of his men but that doesn’t mean I’m afraid to do it.”
“You can do nothing to help him that we haven’t already done.”
“I know the man is a goddamned hero and deserves better than to be tossed in a small, dehumanizing hospital room and deprived of even his own fucking name!” John moved forward when Fordham’s men moved to intercept Wallace and Mitchell. “Don’t. I’ve ten years of combat experience and a profoundly high adrenalin response – you’d be dead before you hit the ground. It’s the only warning you’re going to get.”
All three men stared for a minute and then took a step back as if pulled by one string.
Fordham sucked in a breath. “The Council…”
“The Council will accept this decision or I’ll find a too eager for their own good reporter, and tell him everything. Being forced to hide my own gifts from the council, being retested, and being purposefully broken down by one of my own, in a pathetic attempt on your part to prove you’re a stronger man than me.” John reached out, grabbed a fistful of Fordham’s shirt, and jerked him forward. “For the record, Kevin, you aren’t even in my league.”
“You think you’re better than me?”
“I know I’m better than you.” John released him. “Go home, and tell the Council that we take care of our own. We don’t toss them aside like garbage. Cameron Mitchell is in my custody for the remainder of his life or until regains himself. End of discussion.”
John swung up into the driver’s seat of the Humve a minute later and looked at McKay through the rear view mirror. “Fordham tried to bond with you.”
“Yes, he was presented to me a couple of years back. He’s corrupt and dirty on the inside. I don’t know how he can stand to be in his own body.” Rodney gathered Cameron close in and tucked the man’s head against his chest. “Wallace, who told you he was in a catatonic state?”
“The head of psychology for the Sentinel Center.”
“They lied,” Rodney whispered. “They lied to you. He’s not catatonic; he’s not even in a zone.”
“Then what?”
“He’s searching.” Rodney fisted his hand into Cameron’s shirt. “He’s searching for his Guide.”
“They said she was dead.”
“No.” Rodney shook his head. “Not dead, just missing.”
- – - -
Jack O’Neill was livid. He stood at the end of Cameron Mitchell’s bed and stared for a long minute. The rest of his team was gathered around him – Sam and Daniel were staring at Cameron with the most profound sense of loss, that he could barely stand to look at their faces. Teal’c was sitting in a chair beside Cam’s bed, his head bowed, fists pressed against his face.
“I never should have let them take him.”
“It was standard procedure. He was very upset, difficult to control, and when a Sentinel loses his Guide—they are automatically recalled to the Center.” Sam reached out and touched Cam’s hand. “I shouldn’t have believed them when they said he wanted time by himself. I should have known better. He knows she’s not dead. He wouldn’t have… he wouldn’t have given up on Vala without looking himself.”
“What can we do for him?” Jack asked.
“Rodney and Keller are conferring in her office about possible treatments. Since it’s not a zone out but a self-induced state; they aren’t really sure what they can do.” John Sheppard had been pacing back and forth behind them.
Jack was overwhelming relieved to have the man on his team. The soldiers that had retrieved them from the airport had reported fully on what happened. It had been pretty clear that John had been prepared to fight off four of his own to bring Cameron back to them. Granted, what he knew about John supported that in spades. The Council had not tried to contact the base at all, yet. He figured it was not going to be pretty but he’d be damned if they were going to take Cameron back. He’d send him off world first.
“Teal’c.”
“O’Neill.”
“The Pentagon might try to force us to send Mitchell back to the Sentinel Center. If that happens, you’re taking him through the gate to where ever you think is best. That way they can search the facility if they demand it and not find him.”
Teal’c nodded. “Yes. I’ll contact Master Bra’tac and we’ll locate a safe place for his… recovery. We’ll need medical supplies, of course.”
“If it comes down to it you won’t have a problem finding people to go with you to see to his physical needs,” Daniel murmured.
“Tell me about his Guide,” John demanded his voice tired and angry.
“We met her off-world. She was cheating a Go’uld out of everything he had by pretending to be a Go’uld herself.” Sam laughed softly. “She robbed Ba’al blind in a matter of days. She was in the middle of stealing a mother ship when we crossed paths. We were actually prisoners on the mother ship.”
Daniel groaned. “She opens the door and struts into our cell dressed to the hilt in leather and looking like a…”
“Alien dominatrix.” Sam grinned. “A beautiful one.”
“She took one look at Cameron and says… Oh, well, I’m keeping you,” Daniel murmured. “He kept her instead. She was the first Guide we’d ever found from a world other than Earth. The revelation was stunning. The Pentagon had to do some pretty fancy computer work to create an identity and a life for her on Earth so the Sentinel Council wouldn’t get suspicious about her origins.”
“They were a perfect match,” Sam whispered stroking Cam’s hand. “Passionate with one another, demanding of each other, they pushed and prodded until they finished whatever task lay ahead of them; their bond was full of laughter and just a pure joy of living as fast and as hard as they could.”
“The battle where she disappeared?”
“They were separated and she was taken through the gate. We were fighting a pretty heavy battle with the Go’uld Yu at the time. As far as we can tell, none of his men were involved in her disappearance. The general belief was that she might have been captured for the slave trade.”
John winced. He hadn’t been able to read a lot of mission reports, yet and he really needed to dedicate a couple of days to learning all there was to know about the situation off world. “And we’ve had no luck finding her?”
“No. None.” Sam shook her head. “We searched for a month after Cameron left but everything dead ended after a few worlds. There is nothing left to follow up. Every team that goes through the gate looks for her, searches for clues, asks questions of the inhabitants in the hopes that we’ll find her.”
“If she could return on her own; she would have by now,” John said.
“Yes. She would have never left Cam on her own and would do everything to come back to him.”
John walked to the bed and stared for a long minute. “I want to take him to Antarctica.”
“Why?” Jack asked.
“Because the control chair could give him a whisper of what he’s missing and it might be enough to draw him out of this place he put himself in. He’s been this way for at least two months – and we all know he isn’t going to find her this way.” John shook his head. “He’s hiding rather than dealing with the loss of her. We can’t let him do that.”
“We agree.” Jennifer Keller slipped past Sam Carter and started to check Cameron’s vital signs. “About all of it –the hiding and the control chair. I don’t know if it will be enough to snap him out completely but it should be enough to give Rodney access to him and force him out of this. The fact is that Rodney could probably force him out without the chair but that would be a strain on his abilities. The chair will provide him a pathway into Colonel Mitchell’s mind.”
“Let’s see what sort of response we get from the Sentinel Council and we’ll make plans for another field trip to Antarctica.” Jack checked his watch. “I can imagine that we won’t have to wait long. Notify Dr. Weir, I’m sure she’ll be pleased to see us all again. Keller you’ll travel with him. Let your Sentinel know to dress warmly; we’d hate for him to catch a cold before we even finish breaking him in around here.”
- – - -
Director Deacon Morris and his Sentinel were on the ground and demanding entry into the base several hours later. Jack, John, and Rodney met them at the top of the mountain in a small conference room that looked more like an interrogation room from a bad cop movie.
“This situation has clearly gotten out of hand, General O’Neill. You must realize that Sentinel Mitchell’s condition is not going to improve and he is our responsibility.”
“We’ve chosen to make him our responsibility,” Jack responded neutrally. “He’s a war hero, Director Morris. A man that has served his country with distinction, saved my life personally several years ago, and made himself pretty damned loved around this base. To find out that a man of his caliber was given a new name, hidden away in a state run mental institution, and left to rot without the care he truly deserved has me very irritated. And when men like me get irritated, things get blown up and people get very dead. So, you must realize that I really don’t care what your opinion of his condition is.”
Morris flushed. “This is a direct violation of our agreement with the military concerning the care and service of Sentinels. We can pull them all immediately.”
Jack smiled. “Sure, you do that and I’ll hold a press conference and tell the entire world what you did to Cameron Mitchell. How many of the Sentinels and Guides serving in the armed forces of this country will fall down on your side when they see how you would have them treated? Your threat is a valid one, of course, some might leave. More than we want could leave. On the other hand, they might all decide to tell you to go fuck yourself and you will have lost your leverage over the government and the military in this country when it comes to the service of Sentinels and Guides. So, you have to ask yourself if one man is worth the risk to you. Because in case you missed it, we’ve already all decided he’s worth the risk to us.”
Morris smiled thinly. “Fine, you can keep Mitchell. However, we are going to recall Sentinel Sheppard and his Guide for further testing at the Center. They’ll leave with us today.”
“No.” John shook his head. “I’ll never consent to testing or training with the Center again. You’ve had the only chance you’ll ever have.”
“I can have you arrested and brought to the Center against your will.”
“Don’t threaten him,” Rodney glanced over at Morris with hard blue eyes and then leaned forward. “Go home, Deacon, before you make enemies you can’t handle.”
“You think you can take on the Council?”
“I won’t have to,” Rodney said with a wicked smile. “Just you. All I need to do is take you apart and it won’t be hard, Deacon. It won’t be hard at all. Your mind has been an open book to me for years. Threaten my Sentinel again and I’ll toss every single ounce of ethics I have out the window and ruin you’re whole life. We’ll start with the so-called platonic bond you have with your Sentinel. Is your wife so stupid that she doesn’t really know you like to take it up the ass?”
Morris stood stiffly. “You’ll pay for this, McKay.”
“No. You’ll pay for this. You’ll pay for what you let happen to Cameron Mitchell. I’ll make sure of it. Fifteen years ago when we met for the first time you said you’d never want me for an enemy.” Rodney stood and pushed his chair roughly under the table. “Today, Deacon, you made an enemy out of me and mine. You come near John or Cameron again and I’ll take everything from you. Everything.”
- – - -
“He doesn’t know he’s safe,” Rodney met Daniel’s gaze across Cameron’s prone body. “That’s the problem. He is hiding but he’s not hiding from grief like I first thought. His thoughts are chaotic; purposefully chaotic. This is a carefully controlled display of insanity.”
Daniel leaned back in his chair and frowned. “Why would he do that?”
“They must have wanted something from him that he didn’t want to or couldn’t give to them.” John touched his Guide’s shoulder as he sat down in a chair beside him. “Has Morris or any member of the Council expressed undue interest in what goes on here?”
“They aren’t allowed to ask. It’s part of their agreement with the government. Sentinels must be able to serve on top-level projects and obtain high government security clearances but the Council had to relinquish the right to disclosure on projects deemed top secret.” Rodney focused on John. “You think they tried to get him to talk about the Stargate program?”
“I think that a man like Fordham could break a level five Sentinel with only five senses down in a matter of hours. Especially if he’s already drowning in rage and grief. With his Guide gone, Cameron would have little defense against a Sentinel of Fordham’s abilities. But we’re trained – heavily trained to never give into torture and to never allow ourselves to be mentally raped during capture. I’ve been asking myself what I would do if all of my shields failed and I didn’t have you. I think my only defense would be a seemingly mindless zone-out.”
“So their semi-militant response at the airport and Morris coming here personally was to prevent Cameron from waking up and telling us what had been done to him.”
“They sure as hell wouldn’t want it to get out. It would damage the Council’s ability to function within their current arrangement with the government.” John frowned. “Does he still have quarters on the base?”
“Yes. We left everything as it was.”
“So, something that belongs to his Guide would still be in his room? Something that smelled like her?”
Daniel jerked up. “Fuck, why the hell didn’t I think of that? I’ll go check. She wore this spicy perfume she got off world. Drove Cam bonkers.”
A few minutes later Daniel returned with Sam, O’Neill, and Teal’c. He was carrying a red silk nightgown. The scent on it hit John in the face immediately and he nodded. “It’s certainly strong enough. Did you douse it yourself?”
“No, I didn’t want to mask her scent. Sam is pretty sure she wore this and that it hasn’t been washed.” Daniel hesitated and then walked towards the bed. “He’ll think she’s here with him. I hate…”
Cameron reached out, his fingers caught in the red silk and he pulled it from Daniel’s now limp hand with a harsh intake of breath. “Vala.”
Rodney stood and put both of his hands over the fist Cameron was using to grip the nightgown. “Cameron, you’re safe and in the SGC. We need you to let go whatever the hell you’re holding onto in your head and come back to us.”
“Vala,” the whisper was a tortured plea and it was like a punch in John’s gut.
- – - -
He’d never witnessed two General’s lose their fucking minds at the same time, but as he sat in a chair at the conference table while Lt. Colonel Cameron Mitchell detailed what had happened to him at the Sentinel Center after he was taken from the SGC two months before, he watched and felt the emotions roll over him like a tidal wave. Rodney was shaking in his chair beside him and John reached out to comfort him without saying a word, his hand curling around one of his Guide’s.
“Colonel Sheppard, where is this Dr. Wallace now? We’d like to speak with him.”
“He helped me bring Mitchell home. Then he left to settle his affairs so that he could join us here as a member of our civilian staff. I was in the mental hospital where he worked, evaluating him for placement on the Atlantis Expedition. It’s how I accidentally found…” John cleared his throat. “Dr. Wallace was very helpful and assisted us in everyway that he could in bringing our man home. We have the intake records from the hospital so we know that Colonel Mitchell was placed in the facility under the name Derrick Miller almost two months ago.”
“You’ll pass along our gratitude,” General Landry said, his pencil scraping decisively across the legal pad in front of him. John hated the sound of pencil to paper – hated it like few things on Earth. He’d been glad to find out that his Guide preferred a very smooth liquid ink pen.
“Yes, Sir.”
Landry glanced briefly at Cameron and then looked toward Jack. “And there is no word on the location of Vala Mitchell?”
“No. Every team that goes off world searches and asks questions but so far we’ve found no sign of her.” Jack looked away from them all. “Not going to stop looking. I figure it’s time we stick our foot in the slave trade and start making a mess to see what shakes loose. With the System Lords on the outs and mostly beaten down; the slave trade isn’t as profitable as it used to be. I imagine if we make a big enough mess someone will help us just so we’ll go away.”
“But we won’t,” John surmised.
“No.” Jack shook his head. “Slavery offends my delicate sensibilities and I’d like everyone to know how I feel about it.”
Cameron cleared his throat. “And what are going to do about the Sentinel Center and Director Morris?”
“Leave that to me,” Rodney held up a hand when Jack started to protest. “We need to act carefully as it is vitally important that the organization be protected. Hundreds of Sentinels and their Guides could be endangered or damaged if things fall a part. I’ll take care of Morris. When I’m done, he’ll have wished I just came to his house and killed him outright. If the entire Council was involved; I’ll fry all of their asses.”
“You believe it’s just Morris.”
“Yes.” Rodney nodded. “John and I will be going to Seattle in the morning to take care of the problem.”
“Do you want a team with you?”
John shook his head. “There is no need to involve mundanes in this. It’s a Sentinel matter from this moment forward. We’ll take Lorne and Keller with us as well—Keller will testify to Mitchell’s condition.”
- – - -
“C’ mere.” John pulled Rodney close. “When we get back from Seattle… I want to try an experiment.”
“Okay?” Rodney caressed his face. “What?”
“When you went through the Stargate—I felt you until the wormhole was severed.” John relaxed on the bed. “I want to see if I can feel the others. I’d like to send them out to different worlds and test it.”
“To what end?”
“Because if I can do it with Keller, Ford, and Jackson—if I can locate other Guides through a wormhole…”
“We could dial worlds we think might have Vala and you can search for her.” Rodney stared for a minute. “Sometimes, I lose sight of what you’re truly capable of. Speaking of which, tomorrow – we’re going to show all of those bastards exactly what we are both capable of.”
John laughed. “Are you going to take over the Council?”
“No. I don’t want to lead it but I’m going to make damn sure the next Director isn’t some power hungry jerk-off like Deacon Morris.” Rodney rested his chin on John’s chest. “I don’t have to say it out loud do I?”
“No, I know you and he were lovers. Why didn’t you take him as your Sentinel? The potential was there for you both.”
“Yes, potential, but we both wanted something more than what we got from each other. I knew I wasn’t the ideal match for him. We could have been happy together but it would have never been enough. Cameron is a good, strong man and there was a time when I was tired of waiting that I thought perhaps we could settle on each other. In the end, that just seemed incredibly stupid—that either of us would be willing to settle. Then, about two months after that he comes home from a mission with Vala and the moment I met her I realized how foolish it would have been to bond with him when he was meant for her. They were perfect together. Perfect like you and I.”
“Do you think she’s alive?”
“God, I hope so. She’s is his everything. His Guide, his wife, his best friend, his lover, his partner in love and war – all of those things he deserved wrapped up in the same person.”
“If it’s possible we’ll make it right for him.”
“This place has changed since your arrival,” Rodney admitted. “It’s like we were all waiting for you, not just me.”
- – - -
He dreamt of Atlantis – the city of the Ancients filled with wonder, danger, and knowledge. Rodney had said nothing about the dreams but he knew he had no secrets from his Guide and that he was very aware of everything in John, even when he was asleep. The four of them had made the plane trip in relative silence; all lost in their own thoughts and opinions. John felt betrayal and fury from the other bonded-pair.
Jennifer Keller was a doctor, a healer. The intentional damage that had been inflicted on Cameron was at odds with the foundations of her beliefs. Evan was furious – that a fellow Air Force officer and Sentinel would be treated in such a way by the very people that were supposed to protect them all.
By the time, they were getting out of the vehicle he’d rented and walking towards the front doors of the Sentinel Center they were all four fueled by the rage that simmered between them. Rodney had told him not to hide what he was capable of so he thinned his primary shields so that every Guide in the place knew exactly what he was. The moment they entered the lobby he felt practically every person in the building stop moving. The walls and floors seemed to creak and groan under the sudden change of motion.
McKay who normally projected a ridiculous amount of calm and affection even when he was being verbally vicious was practically leaking venom. The Sentinel at the front desk actually staggered back, the phone slipping useless from her fingers. Rodney sent her an odd look as they went to the elevator and hit the button for the top floor. John and Evan both checked their weapons in the elevator but kept them in the shoulder holsters under their civilian clothes. This was a Sentinel matter but the military training wasn’t going to be pushed back completely.
Fordham was standing in front of the doors when they opened and they stepped out. Rodney balled up his fist to hit the man but John caught his arm. “Baby, you know you can’t throw a punch.”
“Oh yeah.” Rodney frowned and jerked his head. “Go ahead, and make him feel it next week.”
Fordham had just enough warning to turn and glare at John before he was off his feet and smacking the floor on his back with an astounding amount of force. He rolled his head once and he fell unconscious.
“Per the Sentinel Charter voted on and ratified in 2001, I am calling a vote of no confidence in the current director of this Council.” Rodney tossed a file folder across the table and pages spilled out of it across the bright cherry wood. “I’ve proof, documented, and verified by two different sources that Director Morris allowed a Sentinel to be interrogated and mentally tortured in an effort to gain access to top secret information in relation to the government projects that the Sentinel was assigned to while he was an officer with the United States Air Force.”
“This is preposterous,” Deacon started to stand but his Sentinel put out his hand and forced him to sit. “What proof could you gain from an insane man?”
“Mitchell isn’t insane, you idiot. He faked insanity to escape you. Unfortunately, he couldn’t reverse the process on his own. He woke up yesterday and gave a full deposition regarding his treatment while he was in your care. He implicated both your Sentinel, a man named Giles Kinsey, and Sentinel Kevin Fordham in the attack on his mind.” Rodney snapped his fingers at one of the other Guides at the table. “You.”
“Guide Phillip Nelson.” The man supplied his name in a tight controlled voice. His own temper was evident in his eyes. “I would see this proof you offer.” He reached out and plucked up the papers. “If even one third of what you’ve said…” Nelson turned and looked at Deacon. “The price to be paid for this will be most severe.”
“Guide Jennifer Keller helped document Sentinel Mitchell’s condition upon his arrival to our facility. She also spent most of last night with helping him rebuild his shields with Dr. Jackson and myself. It took all of us to repair the damage that had been done to him.”
Nelson looked briefly at Jennifer and nodded. “I’ve watched you closely, Dr. Keller. I was pleased to see that you’ve bonded so well. Your match with Sentinel Lorne was unexpected but certainly well received. You compliment each other nicely.”
“Thank you.” Jennifer moved closer to Evan.
“All of you will drop your shields for immediate discovery.” The term brought the room to a stop but Rodney didn’t stop. “Failure to do so will result in a no confidence action against you as well.”
John stiffened as the minds of nearly everyone in the room were totally open to him. They knew then exactly what he was but it was too late—he invaded, shook lose memories of Cameron with the mental equivalent of a scalpel and then he jerked free of them leaving every Guide and Sentinel in the room that had consented to the discovery shaken.
Nelson cleared his throat. “You cheated us again, Sentinel Sheppard. I see you decided to come out and play today.”
John flashed him a smile. “I’ll never consent to being tested again.” He turned to his Guide. “None of the rest knew what Morris was up to and believed the cover story that he offered about Cameron going on a little vacation to clear his head before accepting a new Guide.”
Rodney nodded. “Don’t even think about keeping my Sentinel. It would be insanely dangerous for any of you to try.”
“No, I can see that and don’t worry. No one in this building except for Morris is foolish enough to even think about keeping either of you. Frankly, between the two of you, I don’t think any of us would survive it. Morris is over confident and he often, as you’ve learned, allows his ambition to impair his judgment.” He glanced towards McKay. “Out of curiosity, Dr. McKay, where exactly would you rate your Sentinel?”
“The scale you use isn’t sophisticated enough to measure John’s abilities nor mine to be perfectly honest.”
“No, it’s obvious you cheated us in the past as well.” Nelson sighed. “Per section 31, part 4 of the Sentinel Charter I call for a vote of removal of office of Director Deacon Morris effectively immediately. Does anyone disagree?”
“Guide McKay’s word has always been good enough for me. I’ve always found him to be arrogant and rude to bother lying about anything.”
Rodney shot the Sentinel a practice glare. “Dr. Keller is prepared to verify Mitchell’s condition under oath and under a full scan.”
“That won’t be necessary.” Nelson shook his head. “Your word is good enough for my Sentinel; it’s good enough for me. We would ask you to leave now—the rest of our discussion is Council business. Unless…” He paused and evaluated Rodney carefully. “You plan to join us?”
“No. I have no interest in these politics. If I don’t like the results of this meeting, I’ll be back and I’ll institute proceedings to dismantle the entire council and seat a new one. I out rank every Guide in this room but I’ve never felt the need to use that power against you. Don’t make me start.”
- – - -
They’d been dialing planets daily, following slave traders, collectors, and various auctions based on information culled by different off world sources. John had counted close to one hundred and each time they did it – he reached out with everything he was while Cameron Mitchell stood silent and aching beside him. It had become such a ritual with them that Walter in the gateroom often came up to the control room after hours to help them with it. This was just such a night. They’d dialed six planets already and Cameron’s jaw got tighter with each dial out.
Planet 98. It wasn’t even feeling insane yet. He watched the swoosh of the Stargate and let his mind go –and he immediately slammed right into her. It was so stunning that he fell forward in his chair and called out for his own Guide in utter horror. A part of John had thought they’d never actually find her with his weird game of hide and seek with the gate system. But there was no mistaking the ravaged and bonded mind of Vala Mitchell. Cameron was weaved into her very soul.
He woke the whole base without even meaning to, projecting success and urgency with such strength that a platoon of Marines surfaced in the gateroom armed to the teeth with enough weapons for a small scale war and attitudes that screamed ‘give me a reason’ in under ten minutes. By the time, O’Neill made it to the control room; they were all geared up. John was checking his Guide’s P-90 like Rodney hadn’t been going through the gate for several years and they still had the original dial out open. They had ten minutes left on the window and they hadn’t wanted to risk them leaving through the Stargate so they hadn’t shut down while they got ready.
“Sheppard, Mitchell.”
Both men turned and looked at O’Neill from the gate ramp. “Yes, Sir?”
“Bring our girl home and don’t bother being friendly about it.”
It was the tenth time John had stepped through the gate and the first time he’d gone through with the intention of behaving very badly. They pushed through ten men on the gate; the Marines making quick work of the barely trained soldiers that had been trying to protect the gate with stolen Jaffa staff weapons. Vala had been gone almost seven months at this point so they didn’t expect to find her in good condition. That she was alive was more than any of them had even hoped for; though no one had ever said it out loud.
They heard her first, screaming for Cameron… she’d started screaming the moment he stepped through the gate. The camp was a half a mile from the gate but for the two Sentinels leading the assault that distance was nothing. John and Cameron moved ahead at a fast pace while Rodney and Lorne stayed behind to coordinate the defense of the gate. No one was getting the chance to leave with her again.
The six men in the camp tossed their weapons and fell flat on their faces the moment they saw them; leaving John and Cameron slightly disgruntled at the lack of a fight but free to go to the ten wooden cages that housed over twenty women. He found her in the fifth cage; her hands were reaching for him through the bars before he could break the lock off with butt of his weapon.
“I’m here, baby, let me get this.”
Vala pulled her hands back and shoved the three women with her in the cage backward as Cameron shot two rounds into the lock and it fell free. She launched herself at him as soon as she could and clutched at him with shaking hands.
“Kill them. Kill them all.” She sobbed. “Kill them.”
Cameron clutched at her and after a moment tilted her head back so he could look at her eyes. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”
“Give me your gun.” He pulled his 9mm from his leg holster without blinking and handed it to her without hesitation. She walked to the men on the ground, the slave dress she was in, hung on her too thin frame in tatters. Vala pointed the weapon at one man. “Get up, Karlon.” The man rolled to his feet and stared at her. She pushed back her hair as Cameron came to stand beside her. “I told you the day you bought me that I was going to kill you. Do you remember that?”
“Yes.”
“I’ve told you every single day since then that if it was the last thing I did in this fucking galaxy I was going to kill you.” Her hand started shaking and slowly she lowered it and started to fire. One knee, then the other, the groin, and then two in the stomach. “It’ll take you hours to die and it still won’t be enough for what you did to me. Nothing, no pain you could suffer will ever be enough.” She waved the gun. “Get up. All of you get up.” The rest got head shots, quick clean – bodies falling to the ground even as John released the rest of the women in the cages.
She handed the gun back to her Sentinel silently. Cameron put a fresh clip in it and handed back. “Let me take you home.”
“Yes. Yes, please.”
They were all the gate before she even looked at John Sheppard. “You found me.”
“Yes.”
“You belong to McKay.”
“Yes.”
She nodded. “Later, I want to hear that story.”
“We’ll have story time,” John agreed. “For the record, you are so much kick ass that I don’t even know where to start.”
Vala shot him a look. “I’m not done. I made a list. I’ve got gate addresses, names, and so many people that need killing it could take a year or two.”
“Sounds like a party. I love parties.” John waited while the gate was dialed and looked around to all the men. The air was full of gunpowder and deadly satisfaction. “Lorne, you’ll stay back with the other women and help them with the gate. I’ll send Keller back through for medical.”
“Understood, sir.”
“Marines, was a good time had by all?”
“Yes, sir!”
“Everyone get dead?”
“Yes, sir!”
“Then haul ass home. The General hates to wait.” John paused at the event horizon and sought his Guide. Rodney immediately moved to his side. “You know, this whole Stargate thing is made of win.”
“Yes, yes it is,” Rodney said with a smile.
John glanced to his right where Vala stood, her face tucked against her Sentinel. “Guide Mitchell, after you.”
She stepped back from Cameron, shook back her hair, and took a breath. Then with one last look at the planet she’d lost almost her life to – she turned and walked through the gate.
Cameron reached out and touched John. “There is nothing I can ever do – nothing to repay you for this. Sheppard, God, you’ve saved my life twice since we met.”
“Make sure I get an invite to all of your wife’s parties. I like the way she dances.”
- – - -
“How is she?”
Rodney shook his head. “Being in captivity can break the strongest of people, John. I’ve always thought that Vala was made of some pretty stern stuff but when I touched on her mind tonight, all I saw was devastation and anger. She’ll have a long road back but she has her Sentinel back and they share a profound bond. I believe together they will both heal from this.”
“The Center formally appointed Guide Nelson to the position of Director today. Morris and his Sentinel were removed from service – and can no longer work as a bonded pair.”
“Not good enough.”
“No,” John admitted. “Not nearly good enough. I don’t know what punishment they could suffer that would be enough.”
“A forced severing of their pair bond comes to mind.” Rodney closed his laptop and stood up from the desk. “I think Mitchell wants to go to Atlantis with us.”
“If it holds the promise that we think it does—I believe it would go along way towards healing both him and his Guide,” John said as he held out his hand for Rodney. “Come – Sam, Laura, and Evan told me they were going to spend the rest of the night wrapped around their Guides. Let’s project all the pleasure, safety, and love we can on Cameron and Vala.”
“Wow, did you warn the General?”
“He sent everyone that has off-base residences home and warned the rest that things were going to get very mellow around here.” John sighed when Rodney slid on top of him. “Let’s remind them how perfect they are together. Perfect like you and me.”
“I can feel them already,” Rodney admitted. “Keller and Jackson the most.” He lowered himself and sighed when they were pressed fully together. “I love you.”
John pulled him in for a kiss. “Yes, I know. It’s been between us since the beginning. So much love and lust. I’ve loved before but nothing in my past prepared me for the way I feel about you.”
“Let’s give Cam and Vala all of that,” Rodney whispered. “Everything. Let’s give them everything.”
“Yes.” John nodded as he rolled them over and sought his Guide’s mouth.
They could do this. They could let their love and their passion for one another flow over the other couple like a tidal wave. Help heal the wounds and damage done to their minds by months of torture and separation.
Touches and kisses turned desperate with each passing minute; the emotions and passions of the other bonded pairs on the base were flowing over them as well. By the time John slid deep into his lover his whole world was centered on the sounds, sights, and heady smells of the man beneath him. Nothing else mattered – nothing else could ever matter as much as his Guide.
- – - -
John paused on the iron ramp that lead up to the inactive wormhole. “Good afternoon, everyone!” Soldiers saluted and scientists waved. He almost laughed. “Dr. Weir, Dr. McKay if you would join me.” They both moved into position behind him and John looked over the crowd feeling their excitement, their dread, and their curiosity in equal measure. “Today, we are going on a field trip to a place that is pretty damn far. If you need exact numbers—there are several people on hand who would be happy to give you the number right down to the last light year. I don’t know what we are going to find on the other side of the event horizon. I don’t know that we’ll be able to return to Earth. What I do know is that I am honored that each and every one of you is taking this trip with me. I also know that because of your talent, intelligence, dedication, and courage that this mission is going to succeed. If you will give your attention to Dr. McKay he’s going to go over the final transfer process one more time.”
“We will be sending through a MALP to determine if the location on the other side of the event horizon is capable of sustaining human life. If it is, we will start moving personnel and supplies through the wormhole as fast as we possible can with reasonable safety. All of you know your responsibilities to this and please be aware that we only have 38 minutes to get everything and everyone to the other side of the event horizon. We have enough power in the ZMP to do this once.” He turned to Elizabeth. “Dr. Weir?”
Elizabeth took a deep breath. “We are undertaking the mission of a life time and like Dr. McKay and Colonel Sheppard I am honored to be going on this journey with you. Whatever we find on the other side of the looking glass today – I believe it will be to the benefit of our people and our planet. You are the best of the best, the brightest minds, the strongest and most dedicated fighters, and I have every confidence in all of you.”
“Walter, let’s dial it up and take a look.” John turned to watch the gate turn and as each chevron encoded his body relaxed a little more. They were going to do this. “Sentinels and their Guides to the front please. Dr. Weir, you’ll lead the second volley through after we’ve determined that it is safe.”
“Understood, Colonel.”
The wormhole engaged and everyone behind him sighed with relief but he didn’t miss the fine layer of terror that settled over some of the people behind him. There were plenty, he thought, that though the gate address wouldn’t work. John watched the MALP go through and tried to keep his own nerves in check. He was more than a little desperate to get this show on the road.
“Conditions at the destination are dark but clear of containments, oxygen levels are good. You have a go, Colonel Sheppard.”
John shot glances at Major Lorne and then Colonel Mitchell. Both men nodded and checked their weapons. His hand sought Rodney’s and he took a deep breath as their fingers slid together. “Let’s go people.”
THE END
Go to Episode 2: The Chair
82 comments
ladyholder says:
August 28, 2008 at 11:28 am (UTC -5 )
Oh, please tell me there will be more in this ‘verse. It was very, very good.
Ladyholder
danceswithgary says:
August 28, 2008 at 12:03 pm (UTC -5 )
Really enjoyed this thoroughly and hope that a sequel is being considered!
velvetmagras says:
August 28, 2008 at 12:09 pm (UTC -5 )
Oh Wow! Fabulous, absolutely fabulous! I would very much like to see more of this ‘vers.
mellyna says:
August 28, 2008 at 12:23 pm (UTC -5 )
Wonderful story. This is a beautifully written universe. I hope you decide to write more for it. Thanks for sharing.
moonjean2009 says:
August 28, 2008 at 12:31 pm (UTC -5 )
This is awesome, I absolutely adore your stories. I hope that this not the end of this series.
stclare says:
August 28, 2008 at 12:40 pm (UTC -5 )
wow. wow and may i just say, wow. this was so wonderful, i totaly lost myself in the story. i agree, please let there be more!
mary_russell11 says:
August 28, 2008 at 2:22 pm (UTC -5 )
this is freakin’ fantastic!!!!!!I’m really left wanting for more so I can safely conclude you’ve done a damned good job of writing this!!*is impressed* I hope there will be more…also, I’m addicted to your other series,”Roads not taken”..any chance of a new installment soon??*gives you puppy eyes*
Kathgrr says:
August 28, 2008 at 3:43 pm (UTC -5 )
Love this! I love all your Slash stories and this one doesn’t disappoint. “What Might Have Happened” remains my favorite series but this is a close challenge.
Allrevedup says:
August 28, 2008 at 4:02 pm (UTC -5 )
Really enjoyed this, look forward to reading more
Star says:
August 28, 2008 at 6:52 pm (UTC -5 )
Totally love this Like the others I really hope that there is more to this Verse Star
yinka wills says:
August 28, 2008 at 7:30 pm (UTC -5 )
YOU.ARE.SO.TALENTED!
:D:D
More, please
And more in the ‘What Might Have Been’ ‘verse
galaxy-song says:
August 28, 2008 at 7:45 pm (UTC -5 )
This a amazing and fantastic and all those other good words. Been ages since I enjoyed a fic so much. I really hope you add more.
You did surprise me with some of your pairings like Sam/Daniel and Lorne/Keller but you really made them work:)
Shaeric Dracon says:
August 28, 2008 at 10:38 pm (UTC -5 )
Wow, a wonderful story that I couldn’t stop reading till the end. I loved everything about this story, it kept me wondering what was going to happen until the end. The pairings were awesome and perfect for this story.
Romyra says:
August 28, 2008 at 10:40 pm (UTC -5 )
A Wonderfully and brilliantly rendered tale. I hope to see more in this universe!
Lerah99 says:
August 28, 2008 at 10:46 pm (UTC -5 )
Fantastic! I adore this world. I’d love to see more of this story. Thank you so much for posting this!
Jamie says:
August 28, 2008 at 10:51 pm (UTC -5 )
This is what I’ve always wanted a SGA/SG1/TS crossover to be. Lots of detail, emotional depth, strong characters and giving us a plausible (yet totally different) start to the Rising.
takemychance says:
August 28, 2008 at 10:56 pm (UTC -5 )
Ohmigosh, I loved this entire thing from beginning to end.
Kelly says:
August 28, 2008 at 11:01 pm (UTC -5 )
I, like everyone else, totally enjoyed this story. I hope you decide to continue this universe.
Urania_2006 says:
August 28, 2008 at 11:36 pm (UTC -5 )
Wow! That was fantastic. Very well structured and very realistic. There are a few typos, nothing major. I really hope there’s more of this ‘verse.
stephanie says:
August 28, 2008 at 11:40 pm (UTC -5 )
Wow, I am impressed. Now I have never seen the sentinal but I love your writin so i dicided to give this story a try and I was so impressed. All of the characters arebelievable in this world that you have created. Like the others that have reviewed this, I am begging for a squel or a continuation of this story. If there is one, then Netflix here I come to get old episodes of the sentinal
Mickie says:
August 29, 2008 at 1:11 am (UTC -5 )
*runs around the room squeeing with glee*
SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
I liked, btw.
Mischief says:
August 29, 2008 at 1:31 am (UTC -5 )
Wonderful story! Stayed up far too late so I could finish it but it was so worth it. Would love to see more of this and “What Might Have Been.”
Elly says:
August 29, 2008 at 6:54 am (UTC -5 )
wow. WOW. this blew me away. i love how you’ve interpreted the sentinel/guide bond, and that john and rodney were tailor made for each other. EEEE. i didn’t expect the cam/vala twist, that was cool. and it was awesome how rodney and his posse went to the council with all their righteous fury. also, john wants to go to all of vala’s parties from now on. whee! i also love how you’ve written the sam/daniel dynamic. kudos. the thought of jack being the sentinel/guide matchmaker tickled me pink. bless him.
this was such an entertaining read, i feel like i need to light up a cigarrette, lol. thanks so much for sharing, and i hope you write more, in any universe.
Gail says:
August 29, 2008 at 12:42 pm (UTC -5 )
this is a fascinating story. The characterizations are wonderful and strong. The pairings are interesting and different for me. Hope you don’t mind if I wish you might continue this saga. I am a writer and I do understand that many things can both cause a writer to continue a sage or completely cause them to stop and go on to other ideas crying for expression first. Either way, I did love this story. Thanks for posting it.
twicet says:
August 29, 2008 at 1:34 pm (UTC -5 )
Wonderful story. I really enjoyed your characters and would love to read more. Thank you.
Gwen says:
August 29, 2008 at 2:58 pm (UTC -5 )
Terrific writing. I loved this. Hope you write more of this series.
dragonfly126 says:
August 29, 2008 at 3:36 pm (UTC -5 )
I really loved this fic. I do so hope you continue on with it.
Diana Shaffer says:
August 29, 2008 at 8:42 pm (UTC -5 )
I loved every bit of this and hope to see more of this universe in the future. The world building was exceptionally well done.
gilesbabe says:
August 30, 2008 at 12:33 am (UTC -5 )
Loved this story, the only, minor, tiny, really itty bitty flaw (at least to me) is that Jack wasn’t a Sentinel too. Please, please, consider it??? Lorne gained his abilites as an adult, maybe Jack would have too, except the tragidy of Charlie screwed him up? Jack, coming to Atlantis later and meeting his guide would be really cool.
Anyway, great story and yours to tell the way you want, so however you intend for it to go will be fantastic.
Also love your ‘What Might Have Been’ series and am looking forward to the next installment of that.
Keep writing, you are a pleasure to read.
Azure says:
August 30, 2008 at 6:21 am (UTC -5 )
I really enjoyed this story. It was great on its own, but I would love to see you revisit this AU again in the future. Thanks for a great read!
Seliki says:
August 30, 2008 at 8:12 pm (UTC -5 )
MORE MORE MORE!!! This was freaking awesome! I have loved every single word and can’t wait for more. Bring it on..
LA says:
August 31, 2008 at 2:58 pm (UTC -5 )
Oh this is lovely. I really hope that you continue this as a series.
libsechumanist says:
August 31, 2008 at 4:55 pm (UTC -5 )
Simply great story. Fantastic characterization as these people would act in a Sentinal/Guide Universe. Fully endorse more in this verse! Thanks!
hunterofshadow says:
September 1, 2008 at 6:07 am (UTC -5 )
*flails*
Loved it!
outsideth3box says:
September 1, 2008 at 9:49 pm (UTC -5 )
I really hope you feel inspired to continue in this ‘verse. Jack O’neill, Sentinal/Guide yenta! The thought makes me squee, heheheh.
emmanu says:
September 4, 2008 at 8:32 am (UTC -5 )
I really hope you will continue in this ‘verse
Slvrbld747 says:
September 5, 2008 at 10:46 pm (UTC -5 )
I thought this was excellent. The Gathering is a wonderful blending of both universes. I loved Rodney’s fierce, protective protrayal of a Guide. John’s buttoned down, titanium shielded version of Sentinel was equally fabulous. I loved both of them together, I loved the effect their bonding had on the rest of the base, and I loved how these characters didn’t back down from the Sentinel Council. I get extremely tired of the slavery version of the universe where Sentinels and Guides are brutally used, no matter which side of the bond ends up there. I would love to see this continued. Thank you for this beautiful fic, and all the time and love you poured into it. -Slvrbld747
Ladeia says:
September 12, 2008 at 8:56 pm (UTC -5 )
I really hope you decide to continue this. We so need a sequel to this amazing story. This was absolutely fabulous. I know I’ll end up rereading this a dozen times.
Pepi says:
September 13, 2008 at 12:37 pm (UTC -5 )
I am in as much love with this series as I am with “What Might Have Been” and truly hope you are writing more.
I love Sentinel/Stargate crossovers and this will be going on the list of my all time favorites!!
Thank you for sharing your talent, imagination and humor an please write more!!!!
Stef says:
September 13, 2008 at 12:42 pm (UTC -5 )
I found this the other day and I’ve already read through it twice. I cannot wait to see more of this universe. Thank you for writing such a wonderful story.
Creed says:
September 14, 2008 at 3:10 pm (UTC -5 )
Just wanted to say thank for a wonderful story!!! The idea of Sheppard being a Sentinel is a favourite idea and this is the best story I have read as of yet dealing with this concept. Thank you again!
elf-ears says:
September 17, 2008 at 1:53 pm (UTC -5 )
I’m such a sucker for Sentinel/SGA bonding fics. Especially where there is such a tight connection *loves* Oh yea. I love how you make it so emotional and almost overwhelming. John, denying himself and finding Rodney and all but falling to pieces.. oh yea, heaven. Rodney, snarky and in control. Both of them more powerful than the ‘brass/power’ know – yep! Don’t make them tooooo powerful though! Gotta have some difficulties! Some interesting parings for secondary characters. I can see you are trying new things to see what works. I love the mental angst and need both John and Rodney have. I wanted to leave feedback with each section
heh. Anyway, I’m looking forward to more in the verse.
aqualegia says:
September 20, 2008 at 2:59 pm (UTC -5 )
A very enjoyable story which I would very much like to see continued.
I know you said that you don’t normally go back to change things, but I would point out that a major’s leaves are gold coloured, not silver
Anyanka_eg says:
September 20, 2008 at 4:23 pm (UTC -5 )
PLease, please write more of this universe. It’s splendid and I’m not a Sentinal reader normally. Brilliant work.
evilshelly says:
September 21, 2008 at 12:48 am (UTC -5 )
Very enjoyable! Thank you for sharing.
Gilliam says:
September 21, 2008 at 10:21 pm (UTC -5 )
This is wonderful – I would LOVE to see more in this ‘verse.
I really love The Sentinel – and I love what talented wriers like you can do with all the potential of the Sentinel/Guide bond.
I think it was terrific tha way you headed off problems on the Atlantis expedition, saving Carson and Sumner etc. And making John the boss right up front. (also limiting some of Elizabeth’s power – she really sucked sometimes as a diplomat.) Oh, and letting her boyfriend come with them – that was inspired.
Again, let me join everyone else and beg for more!
Dee says:
September 22, 2008 at 8:54 am (UTC -5 )
I really enjoyed reading that, thanks!
Malloy says:
September 22, 2008 at 1:28 pm (UTC -5 )
Love the story! The most amazing story I’ve read!
Lissa says:
September 22, 2008 at 7:06 pm (UTC -5 )
This was just amazing and I think it is my favorite Stargate/Sentinel fusion yet. There was several parings here that I don’t see enough of and some I have never read (Lorne/Keller) and I really enjoyed that.
I really hope you play more in this universe.
pfyre says:
September 25, 2008 at 12:35 pm (UTC -5 )
I found this sometime around the end of August beginning of September and could’ve sworn that I left feedback – except I don’t see anything from me here – my apologies – I fell in love with this story the first time I read it and recently I stumbled across a couple of other Sentinel/SGA fics and just had to come back and read this again – cause I think it’s my favourite and I’d love to read more in this wonderful AU
Jantique says:
October 6, 2008 at 1:12 pm (UTC -5 )
Oh, yes! MORE STORIES, PLEASE!
Marie says:
October 7, 2008 at 1:09 pm (UTC -5 )
it’s an amazing world ! I feel as dorothy in the The Wizard of Oz, you’re a talented author, i can’t wait the continuation.
sgakaz says:
October 11, 2008 at 4:27 pm (UTC -5 )
Wow another brilliant McShep and wonderful crossover and inspired pairings and I think the first Keller/Lorne I’ve ever read and that Sam/Daniel’s was a platonic bond until the chair making both realise what they where missing I was with Rodney on that one, this story is so made of win and if you never visit it again the fact that you did in the first place makes me very happy of cause if you do, mere words could not express my joy.
studiosquid says:
October 12, 2008 at 3:22 pm (UTC -5 )
This is a lovely ‘verse. I’ve always enjoyed Sentinel/Stargate crossovers because they seem to work so well together.
Yours is even better.
I particularly like how you’ve shifted everyone’s personalities a little closer to the more primal, Sentinel/Guide mindset.
It makes sense that Sentinel John would be closer to the John we’ve seen in “The Eye” and “The Storm” and that he would hide his abilities like he seems to hide his intelligence.
I have a particular love for your Guide Rodney ’cause we don’t usually think Rodney=empathic, but given his reactions to others, his often lack of confidence masked by a mask of overconfidence, and a sweetness that he is afraid to show, it makes complete sense that Rodney would be a Guide.
Vala, for all that she was only in the story for a short time, is brilliant and reminds me of the Vala we saw the last season of SG-1 and I really like her with Mitchell.
I do kinda wish there had been more Cadman ’cause I’d love to see her and Aidan run around and blow shit up. Maybe it can be part of the sequel? ‘Cause you should really write a continuation. I’ll even play beta if you need another one.
So, Sentinels of Atlantis=\o/
haggy says:
October 12, 2008 at 8:46 pm (UTC -5 )
I love all of your stories, you have a wonderful imagination. maybe you will consider letting your readers get a taste of the life the Sentinels and their guides have in Atlantis.
Best wishes and hugs from Scotland
spaceyschick says:
October 16, 2008 at 6:11 pm (UTC -5 )
i totally loved this fic. I hope that there will be more to this ‘verse. Great Job!
Tammy says:
October 19, 2008 at 5:09 pm (UTC -5 )
This is a wonderful story and a wonderful universe you have created! I so want more. I stumbled upon this story about a month ago and have already read it more than a dozen times. I love every line. You are a great writer and I hope that you keep writing in this storyline. It is truly one of the best McKay/Sheppard stories I have every read.
Bunny says:
October 31, 2008 at 12:42 am (UTC -5 )
Wow, this was so fantastic, I was completely engrossed from start to finish! I loved all the little tweaks you made with SG-1/SGA/TS – they all worked perfectly. Thank you so much for writing this, I loved reading it.
Lena says:
October 31, 2008 at 10:52 pm (UTC -5 )
So to borrow one of your phrases this story is made of win! Seriously, I’m so very glad that I found you. I actually ended up staying up way, way late last night because I just couldn’t stop reading your “What might have been” series. Your work is all just very much awesome- thank you for taking the time to both write it and share it!
Stormraven says:
November 1, 2008 at 2:54 pm (UTC -5 )
I genuinely love this series and do hope you continue with further stories. Have to tell you, you are a fantastic storyteller. You engaged all my senses, just need a little more description. Like…mention that Sheppard carressed McKay’s really soft sweater clad shoulder (better worded though). My favorite pairing (Sheppard/McKay) was featured and did like the other pairings you included. I’m an old Farscape fan and love that you paired Mitchell and Vala, Ben Browder and Claudia Black have such wonderful chemistry, as does Joe Flanigan and David Hewlett (loved David’s casting as David Ketchum in the movie ‘Scanners II’, love the hair and THOSE TIGHT JEANS!!!). *ahem* Fangirl moment, let me get a bucket for the drool… Have you thought of crossing Scanners 2 and Stargate Atlantis?
Emma says:
December 8, 2008 at 5:19 pm (UTC -5 )
I’m looking forward to more in the universe. Loving the sentinel/guide pairs you put together.
violet44 says:
December 26, 2008 at 12:25 pm (UTC -5 )
I so totally loved this story. Please tell me that there is going to be a sequal.
Keep up the brillant work.
violet44 xxxx
un_covermyeyes says:
January 20, 2009 at 12:22 am (UTC -5 )
Wow, this was great! I’ve never watched Sentinel, but I loved all your other writing so I gave this story a try. I’m looking forward to reading more from you in any series or standalone. Thanks!
amethystshade says:
February 4, 2009 at 3:23 am (UTC -5 )
Excellent story. Beautiful voice.
flmun says:
February 23, 2009 at 5:15 pm (UTC -5 )
This *ROCKS*. Completely made of win. I’m not even into Sentinel, but this story makes me love them. Beautiful crafting of characters into new roles, while maintaining integrity.
Really. Mind-blowingly good.
purrfus says:
March 20, 2009 at 10:48 pm (UTC -5 )
When you go alternate you do it all the way. The John/Rodney are fantastic, Sam/Daniel good, Evan/Jennifer better, and Vala/Cam made me so sad and yet so happy at the same time.
Your Atlantis will be a very exciting place. Please find someone extra special for Parrish.
chrisking2005 says:
April 4, 2009 at 2:25 am (UTC -5 )
Reading ‘The Awakening’ whet my appetite for ‘Sentinels of Atlantis’, so I’ve just read the whole thing again.
Your fiction is made of win.
And you are made of awesome.
*gloats over all the lovely fic on the horizon, even if I’m suffering the tortures of the damned while I wait for my next fix of keira!fic*
jstreader says:
April 17, 2009 at 9:48 pm (UTC -5 )
I just want to say I just discovered your site and the stories you right are absolutely awesome. I have loved reading “The Gathering”. I will definitely be sure to check back for future stories in this universe.
Moon says:
September 22, 2009 at 4:23 pm (UTC -5 )
More please miss – parts 4-7 and then some
slashaddict says:
October 20, 2009 at 1:16 am (UTC -5 )
God almighty… are you pure talent or what!! I have no idea why it took me this long to read this series… i thought it was a more sentinel based series and having never watched or read fanfics on the tv series i was a little hesitant. Now, i’m kicking myself for not reading it. I loved this… it was so sweet and endearing and special. The part where John said life was pain and Sam, Daniel and Rodney told him what life was to them… wow it was so moving. It made me think of my “life is…” I am on to the next episode and can’t wait to see where you take it.
I love all your series, What Might Have Been, Ties That Bind(which by the way, can’t wait until you update the next parts on these two.) Now, i have another favorite to look forward to having updated as well!!!
Jodine16 says:
January 14, 2010 at 2:22 pm (UTC -5 )
OMG okay so it takes a little to get used to your writing style but other wise this series makes me *FLAIL* ^__^ … possibly a little too much. By the way, are you one of the writers for Stargate Atlantis? Cause you have Rodney’s snark down to an art. Now I ahve something to keep myself occupied with for days
I hate that I don’t have any time off until next week. 
love this a ton!
Keira Marcos says:
January 14, 2010 at 2:35 pm (UTC -5 )
Am I too abrupt in my style or is it crazy sense of humor?
Calia says:
April 22, 2010 at 5:27 pm (UTC -5 )
I loved this story, it is so cool to see Rodney and John as Sentinel and Guide. I also loved that you paired Vala and Cameron.
Thanks
Caia
Indus says:
May 4, 2010 at 1:08 am (UTC -5 )
I’m going to admit that the use of the word mundanes felt a little like mudbloods sometimes, so I felt a little sad for Jack, being the mundane. He’s still my favorite stargate person ever, so I loved that you had so much of him in this fic, and that he made mundane a little awesome! I wish he’d gone to Atlantis
Keira Marcos says:
May 4, 2010 at 7:56 am (UTC -5 )
That really wasn’t my intention at all. I used the word mundane to actually avoid using the word “normal” because the vast majority of Earth would define the “norm” which would make Sentinels and Guides abnormalby comparison. It isn’t meant to be OR used as a racial slur. I’m very sensitive to those kinds of slurs– being married to an African American man in the Southern US makes it impossible for me to ignore stuff like that.
StargatePrime says:
May 31, 2010 at 1:55 am (UTC -5 )
I’m impressed. I didn’t think I’d like this with it being John and Rodney. I usually like Jack and Daniel. But the concept of the story “Sentinels in Atlantis” was just too much to pass up. I love it! I’m hooked! I love that Rodney isn’t bitching all the time, like on the show, and I absolutely love Rodney’s kick ass attitude and mellow fellow routine. I love that you put Cam and Vala together. I always thought they would make a cute couple. Please keep the episodes coming.
starr_falling says:
June 7, 2010 at 8:48 pm (UTC -5 )
I love well done crossovers with The Sentinel. And yours, is very well done. The dynamic between the sentinels and guides is wonderful, and so loving. I’m glad you gave Sumner the boot, and gave command to John and Rodney. As much as I like Elizabeth, her command of first the SGC and then Atlantis never really made sense to me. And yay for Vala/Cam!
Kat says:
July 28, 2010 at 6:35 am (UTC -5 )
First you get me addicted to TTB and now here I am. An amazing read and won’t be sleeping for the next few nights trying to get caught up
Sandra says:
August 28, 2010 at 10:41 pm (UTC -5 )
Well that was particularly yummy. Great start to what I’m sure will be another fantastic story. I’ve only ever watched one epi of SGA and none of the Sentinel but I didn’t have any trouble with the mythology of anything and that’s certainly a credit to your writing.
And on a shallow note let me just say I love your sense of humor. That line about letting any clone of John’s the Asgard’s create keep their genitals had me rolling!
deedo says:
September 10, 2010 at 11:34 am (UTC -5 )
Wow!!! This is sooo awesome!
I’m so glad I found your site and I love the whole universe you created in this story! I can’t wait to read the other episodes! ♥
tailor caden says:
January 25, 2011 at 6:12 am (UTC -5 )
That was superb I really enjoied reading that and looking forward to more
Laura_trekkie says:
July 27, 2011 at 6:40 pm (UTC -5 )
What fun!
I don’t know how I’ve managed to miss this series for so long, but I’m very happy to have found it now.
This first chapter was great. They’ve not even got to Atantis yet, or even really off world, and there’s already been all sorts of drama and angst. I loved John and Rodney’s meeting and how profoundly they recognised eeach other instantly. Same for Lorne and Keller, though I’ll miss not having Carson along for the ride. I’m so glad they found Vala and that she and Cam can now start to recover from their ordeal. I’m also glad that Sam and Daniel realised they were missing a lot of their bond by keeping things platonic. I like how you’ve fit all the characters together and the cammeraderie they so quickly shared.
It was great to see Morris getting his comeuppance, and Fordham, too. Take that both of you!
I’m intrigued by the link between the Sentinel/Guide and ATA genes, especially given how the chair seems to mimic Guide ‘vibes’. What will it feel like for John and the others stepping through into Atlantis?
Laura