Disclaimer: I have no claim whatsoever to these characters.
Rated PG for language. Gen. Spoilers for 1x07 Earth.
So, What'd I Miss?
by Helen W.
Soon after Earth...
In retrospect, Ron Greer couldn't believe he'd missed it.
After Rush's little exercise in theatre of the absurd, life aboard Destiny had gotten back to quote-normal-unquote pretty quickly. And today's normal meant exploring a few corridors they hadn't been down before, seeing how reality matched Destiny's computers.
Matt Scott was in charge, which worked for Ron. Let the lieutenant handle the radio, while he concentrated on keeping That Idiot Spencer busy.
They'd gotten a pretty good groove going, with Spencer actually applying himself and using all eight of his braincells simultaneously. Spencer had even been the one to notice that some piping along the corridor showed signs of having been repaired in the past. A pretty major discovery; if they could figure out how to work on these things correctly, their lives would be much easier, not to mention safer.
Matt called it in, and a few minutes later Eli Wallace appeared, with Corporal Devins, who knew something about plumbing. Eli said, "Nifty," then stepped back so that Spencer could show Devins what they'd found.
"So, what'd I miss?" Eli asked, and at first Ron thought he was talking about the pipes.
"You probably know more than I do," said Matt.
"Do you think what Riley and Brody were doing was really necessary?" Eli asked.
"I don't know. Depends on whether you trust Rush."
"Don't ask me, I was locked up," Ron said, and suddenly Eli was staring at him.
"He did that to you?" Eli asked.
"Col. Telford and I have history."
But Eli shook his head. "They got you out of the way, they got me out of the way, hell, they got CHLOE out of the way, and Colonel Young… God, Matt, couldn't you see it?"
"I don't..." Matt stopped, then stared down the hall at nothing for a moment before saying, "You really think that's what it was? Telford was getting rid of you and Sgt. Greer for a reason?"
"I've been wondering why they gave Dr. Williams my body when they could have used anybody's. I thought, maybe I really wasn't that useful after all. But to lock up Ron... He was afraid of both of us. Isn't that something."
He paused. "Matt, if anything like that happens again, you're going to have to be our eyes and ears and hands, okay? Because Dr. Rush makes a great boogieman, but I think it's a distraction."
Matt shook his head. "You don't know what you're asking, Eli," he said. "I don't know shit about most of this stuff."
"Well, none of us do, really," said Eli. "Ron, if you could have, yesterday..."
"I'd have broken the connection. Gotten Col. Young back here."
"Did you tell anybody that?"
"Just Lt. Scott. And not until late in the day."
"And then what would have happened? The experiment might have been delayed a day or two, then if we liked the look of it we'd have just done it with Young in command. So no big deal. There was a reason it had to happen yesterday. Because they knew it was then or never."
"That's kind of reaching," said Matt, sounding doubtful.
"They're afraid of me, afraid of Col. Young, afraid of Ron. Because we think for ourselves, I'm guessing. Come on, Matt, it's obvious!"
Of course Matt couldn't answer. And Ron wasn't 100% convinced of the kid's reasoning either.
But something was definitely fishy, and it ran deeper than Col. Telford.
Just wonderful.
* * * THE END * * *
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Email: helenw@murphnet.org