Rating: K+
Spoilers: Enemy Mine from SG-1 and I have taken a few liberties with Critical Mass too.
Pairings: Lorne/Cadman
Summary: Sheppard introduces Lorne to a tap-dancing explosives expert.
Disclaimer: I own none of the Stargate Characters
Authors Notes: This is in response to yet another challenge from BiteMeTechie in the When Plot Bunnies Attack forum, this time it's Unconventional Pairings. The idea is to pick a couple not of the normal pairings, e.g. Weir/Sheppard, Sheppard/Teyla, McKay/Sheppard et al and write about them using the 6 prompts given by Techie. Go and join in, it's fun, honest.
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"Major Lorne I'd like you to meet Lt Laura Cadman, she's a bomb expert so I thought you could use her help, she came in on the Daedalus a couple of days ago, Lieutenant meet Major Evan Lorne" said Colonel John Sheppard. Lt Cadman saluted
"Major Lorne sir" she said, Lorne returned her salute and looked her over, pretty he thought as he went back to his plans
"I'll leave you two to get acquainted," replied Sheppard. The last thing Lorne wanted in this project was 'help', he was using it to get away from Atlantis for a while, he was going a little crazy in the city and needed to do his own thing for a while. It had all started when he'd taken Teyla to the mainland, she'd invited him into the communal meeting tent for tea as she did with all the Atlantis pilots, inside Halling had gotten straight down to business, they were having problems with water supplies, now that their crops were expanding it was getting more difficult to keep them watered. The well they had sunk when they'd first arrived couldn't cope anymore and they really needed to keep it for supplying the village with fresh water, bringing water from the river wasn't possible as it was too far to keep making return trips, intrigued, Lorne had kept listening to the ideas being put forward. He'd started his Air Force career as an engineer, in fact that was the reason he'd been seconded to the SGC in the first place as part of their Naqadah mining operations. Until the incident with the Unas he'd been happy but after that he'd got itchy feet and fancied being an ordinary soldier for a while, which in turn had got him sent to Atlantis. The engineering part got the better of him and he'd spoken up, volunteering ideas and his services.
Lorne fixed her with a steely glare
"Bomb expert eh," he said, Cadman grinned at him
"High temperature and energetic materials technology" she tilted her head on one side "and I can tap dance, too" she said with a chuckle as she stripped off her jacket "so what do you want me to demolish first?" Evan smiled; maybe having her around wasn't going to be too much of a hardship after all
"We're trying to channel water from the river into irrigation ditches through a series of sluice gates, to prevent flooding in the rainy season, but we've hit rock, I was going to do it myself but now you're here maybe you'd like to show me what you can do" he replied. Laura beamed
"Just show me where sir" she said, he watched her walk off to the explosives trunk and shook his head, no; this one had trouble written all over her.
"Major Lorne" said Cadman's voice over the radio
"What have you got for me Lieutenant?" he replied into the radio
"All charges are laid, Sgt Morris has just laid the last of them, I'll be bringing the fuses over in a couple of minutes" said Laura. Lorne was impressed with her work so far, depending on how things worked out by the end of the project he might ask Sheppard if she could join his team, he needed a decent explosives expert, he didn't necessarily have to like the woman, just as long as she did a good job. Laura appeared over the ridge and handed the fuses to Lorne who began to wind them around the detonator, he knew it was an old-fashioned way of doing things but he liked to keep his hand in.
"I've timed them to go off in thirty second intervals," said Laura, Evan signalled everyone to take cover and activated the detonator. The first four explosions went to plan when Cadman's face went white "oh no, I put the fifth charge in the wrong place" Lorne looked at her
"Where did you put it?" he asked, Laura pulled him down to the ground as the explosives detonated sending a wall of water into the air and over them.
"About five hundred meters in front of us" she replied in a small voice, she got up and recoiled slightly at the thunderous look on Lorne's face. She walked over to the crater "on the bright side the Athosian's have a new well and it looks like we've found a new underground water source" she said trying to lighten the mood. "We just need to layer the well with the flint we displaced from the other explosions and..." she decided to give up trying to talk herself out of it.
"Nicely volunteered Lieutenant" Evan replied as he trudged off to change, Laura sighed and followed.
She found him sitting on the outskirts of the camp, she'd spent the evening, good naturedly enduring the teasing of the Athosians and the Atlantis personnel about the first impression she'd made on Atlantis' second in command.
"Would it help if I said I'm sorry, for the hundredth time?" she asked, he looked up at her "maybe I should stick to dancing huh" she said as she danced the time step, he smiled at her
"Sit down" he handed her a mug of the local brew "everyone's allowed one mistake I guess" she sat down opposite him. He smirked to himself
"What?" she asked
"I was just thinking about the first time I laid charges during a bridge building exercise in Africa," he said as he started to tell her about the first of many cock-ups he made.