Trust Once Broken | SGA John Sheppard

0.80.0

Kai's fingers flew across her keyboard as she frowned down at the power readings she was receiving back from the other gate. She wasn't an expert on gate technology by any means, but she certainly knew when things weren't looking good. "Radek," she called.

"Something must have happened to their gate," Zelenka agreed with a nod, reading over her shoulder.

"There's nothing wrong with our gate," the other leader snapped indignantly.

Kai went very still and lifted her head as she became aware of the man as a threat. Her eyes flickered back and forth between the leader and Elizabeth. There was an underlying tension there that she didn't like.

Chuck dialed the gate again but nothing happened.

"You orchestrated this!" the man accused taking an aggressive step towards Elizabeth.

Kai took her hands off her laptop and narrowed her eyes at the man. There were Marines in the room, but everyone was distracted by all the new people being evacuated into the city. Kai was the closest in case things went wrong.

"What?" Elizabeth asked in confusion.

"You lured me here to hold me hostage in exchange for our warship!" He sputtered. In the gate room below some of his people had turned and looked, trying to see what was upsetting their leader.

Kai slowly stood. Zelenka was the only one to notice and wisely took a step back to give her room if necessary.

"I assure you Chancellor Lycus that is not what is happening here," Elizabeth replied sharply. She turned back to them. Her eyes flickered over Kai, where her hand was resting against the handle of her Blade. Elizabeth gave her a subtle shake of her head. Things weren't that serious yet, but she appreciated the Mortii's willingness to come to her aid. "Zelenka, the Daedalus is on it's way back from earth, I want you to contact Colonel Caldwell and divert them to Taranis."

"Right away," Zelenka said with a nod.

Elizabeth turned to Kai. "I want you to find the closest gate and see how long it would take to get there by jumper."

Kai nodded and immediately sat back down to access the database.

Elizabeth turned to Chuck. "I need a Geologist up here."

Chuck nodded.

"We're going to find out what's going on," Elizabeth assured the Chancellor.

"I will not be cut off from my people," the older man growled authoritatively.

"My people are stuck on your planet too Chancellor," Elizabeth reminded him, her tone a little sharper than before. The Chancellor nodded as though he had just remembered the fact, and stepped back so they could get to work.

Doctor Simpson was a geologist who looked over the data they had from the planet about the volcano. He reported that there was no way of telling how long before the Supervolcano erupted, if it hadn't already. He estimated anywhere between an hour and a couple days. He guessed sooner rather than later and strongly advised recalling any teams on the planet. When he began negotiating for the opportunity to watch the eruption from orbit, Elizabeth dismissed him.

The closest stargate Kai located was over two days from the planet which meant there was nothing she could do to help Sheppard and the trapped people. It was unsettling not knowing if the volcano had already erupted. People rotated in and out on their shifts while they waited for The Daedalus to arrive at the planet, but Kai didn't leave the control room.

The longer they went without any contact the more her imagination began to spin out of control. In the moment it hadn't occurred to her that the bright flash against the shield of the stargate could have been the volcano erupting. It might have been the moment John died and she hadn't even realized it. She didn't like this feeling of vulnerability that was so locked into the life of someone else. Her people called it being Bonded but she had never fully understood until she was convinced John was gone. Her mouth was dry as they waited in tense silence for the Daedalus.