Trust Once Broken | SGA John Sheppard

0.70.0

I have to say I am beyond excited for this update! It has always been one of my favorite episodes and from the very beginning of writing Kai and John's story I always imagined how this episode in particular would play out for them and what it would mean for their relationship. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it!

Happy Reading!

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The Long Goodbye
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Kai and Zelenka were just putting the finishing touches on the changes to the sensors. On the next system update the changes would go into effect and Atlantis would be capable of picking up any Mortii ships that entered the quadrant, whether they were cloaked or not. She was finished. It was time to go.

"Doctor Weir," Zelenka said into his radio. "The changes to the sensors are complete."

There was a long pause. "Understood Radek," Weir said and Kai thought perhaps the leader of Atlantis sounded a bit sad.

Now that it was done, Kai was at a loss for what to do with herself. She was just packing away her tools when word came in about new technology AR-1 had brought in from their last mission. McKay put out a request for Zelenka's team to come in to assist on the project. Radek had looked at her expectantly as he turned to head down to the lab assuming she would be joining him on their next project. No one but Weir and Sheppard knew of her plans to leave and she didn't have the heart to break it to Radek now. She was a coward. So, Kai packed up her tools and trailed after him.

She and Zelenka met McKay and Beckett in one of the quarantine labs on the east pier. It seemed they had found what appeared to be an alien pod in orbit around a planet with a single life sign inside and they were determined to revive the occupant. The excitement in the lab was almost a tangible thing.

"Have you seen anything like it?" McKay asked her as soon as she stepped through the door.

It was the size of a life pod but Kai didn't recognize the technology. "No, never," she replied after a minute. She scanned it and tapped on her tablet but nothing she was reading implied there were any sort of defense systems that would hurt anyone who tried to open it.

Sheppard swaggered in the door. He pulled up in surprise when he saw Kai working on the pod. They hadn't spoken since they came back their ordeal in The Tower. Kai had thrown herself into her work and Weir had contacted him as soon as he got back that she had finished the changes to the sensors. Which meant her time was up, and she would be leaving. He had been crabby since, now he didn't know what to think.

He pressed his lips into a grim line and turned his attention to McKay pointedly ignoring Zian. He and Kai had been civil on the mission but the tension between them was still there since he had yelled at her in the jumper about leaving. He didn't regret what he said, but he also didn't know how to make things better. If she was leaving anyway it didn't much matter what she thought of him. It was probably easier for her to be mad at him. 

McKay was too engrossed in his work to notice, but both Beckett and Zelenka picked up on the tension immediately. The two men shared confused looks, but when neither Kai nor Sheppard acknowledged one another they focused on their own work.

Doctor Weir and Colonel Caldwell stepped into the room behind Sheppard. "Doctor Weir," Beckett greeted. His eyes widened in surprise. "Colonel Caldwell, welcome back."

"Thank you Doctor," he looked up and met Sheppard's gaze. "Colonel," he greeted with a nod.

Sheppard nodded back but the tension in the room that had been bubbling between Kai and Sheppard seemed to have shifted into something else now that everyone in the room was watching Caldwell like he might attack someone without notice. This was his first trip back to Atlantis after the incident with the Goa'uld.