SGA fic: Gaijin, part 39/40
Dec. 27th, 2008 11:19 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sam_gamgeeGaijin, Part 39/40
The complete header can be found in part 1.
Previous parts can be found here.
“At least we get a kind of extended leave,” Chuck said as he and Rodney gathered their things after the final briefing in the Mountain.
“Sure,” Evan replied easily from where he stood in the doorway, in a tone Rodney was sure he had picked up from John. “One in which we have to behave. I wish we could just gate back.”
“Caldwell isn’t going to be watching us twenty-four-seven, is he?” Chuck replied mischievously. “I’m sure we can find a few fun ways to pass the next three weeks.”
“And, I’m sure, make a good case for getting a new midway station up and running,” Rodney replied with a laugh as he shouldered his bag.
“I’m sure Caldwell would love to get behind you on that one,” Evan replied. “I doubt he’s very happy being a glorified taxi.”
“Well, then we’ll just have to see what we can do,” Chuck replied as he also shouldered his bag and the three of them headed out of the guest quarters.
They joined Elizabeth, John, and Carson in the Gate Room and after some final words from General Landry, they were beamed onto the bridge of the Daedalus.
“Welcome aboard the Daedalus, everyone,” Caldwell told them. “Colonels – congratulations on your promotions.”
“Thank you,” both John and Evan responded.
“I’m sure you know where the guest quarters are by now,” Caldwell said. As they nodded, he continued, “Good. Why don’t you get settled in and we’ll be on our way within half an hour.”
The quintet silently made their way down to the guest quarters, passing a number of the crew who were securing the ship’s cargo and taking care of other last minute pre-flight checks. By unspoken agreement, Elizabeth roomed alone, John and Carson took another room, and Chuck, Evan, and Rodney took the last.
After they settled in, they all met in the mess hall for lunch and to catch up on their respective leaves. Elizabeth confided that she had gone to see Simon for a couple of days so they could take care of some unfinished business. Afterwards, she had done some traveling and enjoyed the solitude and chance to relax. John and Carson regaled them with tales of Carson taking John home to meet his large and boisterous family. Rodney shared taking Chuck and Evan home to meet Jeannie and her family. Chuck and Evan were more subdued in telling about visiting their families. But they brightened as the five men told Elizabeth stories of what they had done in San Francisco.
“I’m glad that everyone’s leave was a mostly good one,” Elizabeth said as she stood once they had finished. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some paperwork I need to take care of before we get back to Atlantis. Apparently, even with all of this new technology, we haven’t figured out a way to streamline our office work.”
“I doubt it’ll take three weeks, though, Elizabeth,” John told her, making an unpleasant face, “even with the triplicate forms.”
“I doubt it too, but I’d rather get it done now rather than later. Don’t get into too much trouble, boys.”
As soon as Elizabeth was out of earshot, Evan leaned forward and folded his hands on the table. “So, we were thinking…” he started, “we need to have a little fun these next three weeks or we’ll go crazy.”
“Define ‘a little fun’ and ‘crazy’,” John replied as he leaned back in his chair, but behind his carefully composed expression, Rodney could see that he was definitely interested and possibly even a little amused. Carson, on the other hand, definitely looked apprehensive.
They carefully made plans that would allow them to enjoy their limited freedom without getting into any serious trouble and still give them time to take care of the duties they were expected to complete before arriving back in Atlantis.
The first couple days were taken up preparing for a day-long scavenger hunt with the winners deciding the next ‘game’. Chuck, Evan, and Rodney won, which was how they ended up playing a game of broom hockey in the makeshift gym with a few off-duty crew members. Caldwell didn’t seem completely pleased by the Post-its that littered his ship, or by the missing brooms and bars of soap, but didn’t say anything besides eyeing the Atlanteans dubiously and making a ship-wide announcement that he expected anyone participating in any unsanctioned games to completely clean up after themselves and return all equipment to its proper place.
Then, before they could raise any more suspicion, they took a few days off from anything even remotely suspect to make inroads into their own piles of paperwork, as well as let Caldwell relax, before beginning again. This time, John and Rodney played broom hockey against Evan and Chuck in the halls of the Daedalus, with Carson trailing behind them, refereeing and alerting them to anyone coming.
That did get Caldwell’s attention – even if they were in a rarely used section of the ship – and he called all five of them to the bridge. As they assembled, Rodney could see Major Marks was doing his best to not appear too amused by what they had been doing.
“Gentlemen,” Caldwell started, “I can assure you that I understand how long and tedious this trip is – I’ve done it more times than I can care count. But just because all of you are on stand down at this time, it does not give you free license to do as you please aboard my ship. Are we understood?”
The men all nodded.
“Good. Now, I have no compunction about locking you in your quarters until we reach Atlantis the next time you try to pull any stunts. Is this clear?”
“Crystal,” John and Evan both murmured as the others nodded.
Caldwell nodded once and said, “Dismissed.”
“Well, there goes a lot of things we could have done,” Chuck said when they got out of Caldwell’s hearing range.
“Oh?” John asked with a raised eyebrow.
Up until now, Chuck had been pretty quiet about ideas. He smirked a little as he said, “Well, I had been thinking about pushing the envelope with that one policy…” He snapped his fingers a couple times in thought. “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell or something like that?”
“You should’ve said something sooner,” Evan told Chuck with a mischievous glint in his eyes. “We could have totally run with that.”
“While I’m not usually one to agree to something like that,” Carson added lightly, “I think it could be fun – in the interest of keeping ourselves amused.”
“I think that in the interest of not being locked in our quarters for the next week and a half, as well as Elizabeth taking us down a peg or two, we should be good,” John told them seriously, though a faint smile was tugging at the corners of his mouth.
“Oh, we’ll be very good, sir,” Evan told him with a completely straight face.
Rodney laughed to himself – he had long ago learned that the only time Evan ever really called John ‘sir’ any more was during the course of good-natured bantering. “Afraid we’ll blow your playboy cover to the ship’s crew, John?” he asked lightly.
“What are you talking about?” Evan asked him, throwing his arm around John’s shoulders. “That cover was blown years ago.” To Rodney, he said, “Caldwell and the Daedalus saved our asses – again – and when we were beamed aboard, Sheppard was in the middle of a rant about the alien princesses and how he never sees it coming.” To John, he said, “I think Marks has liked you more ever since then.”
John simply raised his eyebrows, but didn’t respond. “I will neither confirm nor deny anything,” he told all of them as he moved out of Evan’s arm. “We’d better get out of the hallway before Caldwell decides he doesn’t want us loitering either.”
“Want to head to the mess with me?” Chuck asked Evan and Rodney. “I want to get a drink.”
Evan and Rodney shrugged and nodded as the group split up.
Once they were in the mess, the three men also got a snack and sat down at one of the tables. “I was thinking,” Chuck told them, “that when we get back to Atlantis, we should start doing the paperwork to make our relationship as official as possible – power of attorney, wills, stuff like that. It might be a little tricky with Rodney and I being Canadian and Evan being American, but I’m sure Elizabeth would know how to handle that.”
“Things have gotten a little easier for us in that regard since the Expedition started too,” Evan added. “Especially with international couples wanting to marry and all. But I agree – I think we should talk to Elizabeth about it. And maybe we shouldn’t wait until we’re back on Atlantis to do it.”
“And what would you be waiting to talk to me about?” Elizabeth asked as she joined them.
“We want to make things as official as possible for us,” Chuck told her.
“Okay,” she said as she looked between the three of them and then nodded. “It might be a little tricky with Evan being in the Air Force, but I’m sure we can make it work so that there’s no cause for suspicion. We could probably even start while we’re still en route to Atlantis. Think about what you want and we’ll go from there. I do need to speak with you, Rodney,” she said, shifting her focus to him. “We’ve had a number of requests from various peoples within the Lapran system wanting to do business with us. Since you know their language and customs, I’d like you to handle them and see if there’s anything of value that we can exchange.”
“Okay,” Rodney replied. “What about the Laprans?”
“We haven’t formally heard from them yet, but I’m sure we could see about arranging something after we’ve gone through the backlog of offers that we currently have.”
“And my lab time?”
“Will be put on hold for the time being.” She gave him a warm smile. “Don’t worry, Rodney, we’re not taking that away from you. It’s just that, considering that these alliances could be vital in the future to either us or them, I’d like to set them up as soon as possible. I know for a fact that you don’t have anything pressing that can’t wait for another few weeks before you resume.”
Rodney let out a slow breath. Part of him wanted to feel relieved that he wasn’t being kicked out of the labs permanently, but at the same time he had been looking forward to getting back to his work. But he was finally one step closer to achieving what they had originally intended to do when they first went to Lapras – make contact and set up trade relations if at all possible, and he thought that they might be able to do so. The textiles and glass could come in handy both on Atlantis and with other peoples that Atlantis traded with.
“You’ll have to teach me,” he finally said, crossing his arms over his chest. “Negotiating between the Laprans and the Korsans is one thing, setting up an ongoing trade agreement is something else.”
Elizabeth nodded. “Of course, though they’re not completely dissimilar.”
Rodney tilted his chin up slightly. “And I’ll need information on what we’re already trading with who and things of that nature. It obviously wouldn’t do for us to have too much of one thing and none of another.”
Elizabeth laughed as she replied, “Don’t worry, Rodney. I wasn’t expecting you to fly into this blind.” She stood and said, “Thank you for letting me interrupt your afternoon, gentlemen. And let me know about what you want to do.”
After Elizabeth left, Rodney looked between Evan and Chuck and said, “Well, that went over well.”
Chuck nodded before saying, “So, if you taught us Lapran, we could then help you with the negotiations and ease your workload some.”
“And you’ll be able to actually talk with my Lapran family the next time we visit,” Rodney added with a smile. He shrugged. “I guess now is as good a time as any to start. And we’re going to start with the first word I learned.” He picked up Chuck’s spoon and held it so they both could see it. “This is a spoon.”
Time went quickly after that and Rodney was grateful he had things to do to help him avoid a bad case of cabin fever. Chuck and Evan both picked up Lapran easily and soon the three of them were conversing in Lapran on a regular basis. Rodney told himself it was to help them reinforce what they had learned, but in the back of his mind, he knew it was also because he enjoyed conversing in what was now his other native language.
Chuck, Evan, and Rodney also met with Elizabeth a number of times to draft revisions to the wills they had originally drawn up before going to Atlantis to include each other and make sure everything was clearly stated so their families could contest as little as possible. They also had documents drafted to make the other two their health care proxy in the event it was needed and cover anything else they could think of.
Once everything was set up and they only had to wait until they reached Atlantis to officially ‘sign and file’ as Elizabeth called it, the three men breathed a sigh of relief.
“Well, that was absurdly morbid,” Evan said as they left Elizabeth’s quarters from the last of such visits.
Chuck nodded. “Morbid but necessary. I can’t wait until the day when stuff like that won’t be necessary.”
“I think it’ll always be necessary because the vast majority of people are morons,” Rodney replied wearily. “But hopefully it’ll get easier.” He reached out to touch them suddenly needing physical reassurance, then drew back as he looked up and down the deserted hallway.
As if sensing what he needed, Chuck pulled him into an embrace. “It’s okay, Rodney,” he told him softly. “We’re not going anywhere and neither are you. This is just another safeguard against what we know is out there.”
Evan’s hand came to rest on Rodney’s back between his shoulder blades and he gently rubbed. The warmth emanating from it was a comfortable presence.
Rodney took a deep breath and pulled away from them. “Sorry about that,” he told them before taking a deep breath.
“There’s nothing to be sorry for,” Evan told him. “We all need that sometimes. And the three of us were lucky enough to find people who will always be there for us.”
“Come on,” Chuck said, tugging on Rodney’s hand. “I know something that’ll make you feel better.”
“You’ve figured out a way to convince Elizabeth that we need to have an open door policy with Lapras?” Rodney asked hopefully.
“Not quite,” Chuck replied with an amused smile as he led them towards their quarters. “But I think you’ll enjoy this just the same.”
And the day before they were scheduled to arrive in Atlantis, the Atlanteans couldn’t help but have a rematch with the Daedalus crew. The guys were even able to convince Elizabeth to join in for a while. But things came to a quick halt when Caldwell showed up in the doorway of the gym.
“I thought I had made myself clear,” he finally said when all eyes were on him.
“You did, sir,” Evan replied, completely serious. “You said that anyone involved in any ‘unsanctioned’ games had to clean up after themselves once they were done. We know exactly where everything goes and plan to return them in excellent condition.”
“Good,” Caldwell replied after a moment of studying them all and Rodney was certain they were going to be in a shit-load of trouble.
“Did you want to join us for a few minutes, sir?” one of the crew asked.
Rodney was surprised to see Caldwell actually seem to consider it for a moment before saying, “Well, I did come all the way down here. I might as well see what the attraction is, considering that you all seem so intent on playing regardless of my warnings.”
The tension visibly decreased and the airman who had extended the invitation gave up his broom. They resumed play and Rodney, from his position as goalie, was surprised at how good Caldwell was. He had never pegged him as the hockey type and Rodney’s view of him went up a bit, given that he seemed to know when to pick his battles.
The Atlanteans finally won the game, but it was close the entire time. And Rodney was surprised to see that Caldwell seemed to be enjoying himself. As they cleaned up, Rodney was positive he caught a glimpse of a smiling Caldwell talking privately with Elizabeth, who seemed pleased with whatever was being said. Rodney couldn’t help but smile. It was about time she found someone – even if ‘long-distance relationship’ wouldn’t even begin to cover what they would have.
When Rodney arrived in his lab the morning after they had arrived back in Atlantis, he found a number of emails from Elizabeth marked ‘URGENT’ that contained the information from the various tribes who had contacted Atlantis while they were away. Rodney sighed and began making notes on each proposition and what Atlantis, or one of its other allies, could offer them.
It took him two days to get through everything, since it was apparent that every tribe except the Morykons and the Laprans had contacted them. Rodney was surprised that even the Korsans had sent a very tentative message to them, expressing an interesting in pursuing a formal and more positive relationship than the one that had been started on Lapras. Once he had finished making up proposals for each tribe, he took them to Elizabeth, and after reading them over, she signed off on each one and told him to get to work contacting the tribes and setting up arrangements for delegates to come to Atlantis.
“What, you’re not going to teach me anything first?” Rodney asked, surprised, as they finished up.
“It’s not like they’re going to be coming en masse right away, Rodney,” Elizabeth told him calmly, with a hint of amusement. “We’ll have time for me to teach you. Now, get going. Remember – the quicker you get this done, the quicker you’ll get your lab time back.”
“You’re an evil, evil woman, Elizabeth,” Rodney replied as he stood and collected his things. He froze as soon as he had done so, his mind finally having completely caught up with what they were doing. “I think you’ve forgotten something, Elizabeth.” She looked at him questioningly as he continued, “These people aren’t exactly sitting by the phone, laptop, or Stargate waiting for a reply. In order to contact them, I’m going to have to actually go to them.”
“Or you could send Lorne and his team,” she replied, sitting back in her chair and idly playing with a pen. “I know you’ve been teaching him and Chuck Lapran.”
“While that’s true, he’s not ready to actually hold a conversation like this by himself. Plus, he doesn’t know all the customs yet. If you sent just him and his team, we may as well kiss these trade agreements good-bye.” He tapped his data pad. “Besides, in most cases, these people know me – or, at least, they know of me. That’ll go a long way to helping us succeed as well. I need to go with them. Evan can act as my back-up and this will help him refine his Lapran and he’ll get a lot of practical experience, as well as an in, so you can send him in the future. Hell, send Chuck with us too – that way you’ll have three of us that can deal with them in the future.”
Elizabeth studied at Rodney for a long moment without replying before saying, “Okay.”
“Okay?” Rodney asked in surprise. “You’re agreeing?”
“I am,” she replied with a nod. “Your logic is sound and it *would* be a good idea to have as many people as possible that can communicate with this part of the galaxy and who they can trust. As we’ve learned, you can never have too many allies.”
Rodney grinned. “So when can we leave?”
“As soon as all preparations are made. But,” she paused and aimed a level gaze at Rodney. “I want you all to come back between tribes. I don’t want you hopping from one to another in the interest of ‘saving time’. I want an in person report on each one. Are we clear?”
“Crystal,” Rodney replied. While he knew that this would slow them down some, he could see the necessity of it.
“You’re free to go,” Elizabeth replied, sensing his excitement and desire to get moving.
As he headed out to the control room and Chuck, Rodney hit his earpiece to speak with Evan. “Colonel Lorne,” he said over the public channel. “Please report to the Control room immediately.”
“What’s up?” Evan asked as he entered a few minutes later immediately zeroing in on Rodney and Chuck, a confused and slightly worried look on his face. “As much as I appreciate being pulled away from doing staff rotations, it doesn’t look like there’s a crisis on our hands.”
“There isn’t,” Rodney told him from where he was leaning against the console. Including Chuck, he said, “I’ve just been informed by Elizabeth that we’ve got a mission to take care of. Several, in fact. We’re going off-world to make trade overtures to the other tribes in the Lapran system. Your team is going to be our back-up and Elizabeth wants the two of you to consider this as a learning experience so you can also be liaisons to the tribes. And she wants us to leave as soon as Evan’s team can assemble and we can get our things together.” He straightened up. “We better get moving – this is going to take a while.”
Both Chuck and Evan seemed surprised, but they did as they were told and as they headed back to their quarters, Evan got in touch with his team and gave them a quick rundown. When they arrived at the Gate a few minutes later, Evan’s team was assembled and ready to go for a few days: side arms subtly present, but P-90s distinctly lacking. Rodney gave them a more complete rundown of their mission.
After he finished, the team was silent as the Gate was dialed and they headed through. On the other side, they appeared on a dais in the middle of a stone plaza. There was a market in full swing all around them and people were stopping to look curiously at the newcomers.
Rodney smiled when he spotted the familiar face of Dom’yan and headed towards him without a word to the rest of the Atlanteans, who quietly followed behind him. “Hello, Dom’yan,” he said as he approached.
“Rodney of Atlantis!” Dom’yan replied, surprise quickly turning to pleasure. “I never thought I’d see the day that you’d show up on my doorstep. What can I do for you and your friends?”
“We’re here to invite Nagdali delegates to Atlantis to discuss trade terms.”
Dom’yan wiped his hands on a cloth and called into the back of the stall for someone to come watch the front before coming out to join them. He touched Rodney on the cheek in greeting before taking in the rest of the group and bowing to them. He then grinned and clapped Rodney on the shoulder. “Congratulations,” he said. “I see you’ve married since the last time I’ve seen you. So, which one’s your first husband?”
There was a slight exclamation of surprise from Evan and Chuck as Rodney replied, “Neither. We have an equal partnership.”
Dom’yan looked at him, puzzled. “Doesn’t that lead to confusion over duties and responsibilities?”
“Somehow we muddle through,” Rodney replied, amused. “I’d like to present Chuck and Evan,” he said, turning serious, as he touched each of them in turn. “They’re here to learn from me how we do things and they’re already fairly proficient in the common language. The rest of our team is here to provide back-up if the need arises.”
Dom’yan looked hurt. “I’m surprised at you, Rodney of Atlantis! I would think you know us better than that by now.”
“Oh, *I* do, but my leader wanted to be certain after everything that happened with the Korsans.”
Dom’yan nodded as he started walking and waved for them to follow him. “When you put it that way, it is much more understandable. And we are all very proud of what you and the Laprans have done. The Korsans have not bothered us since and we are eternally grateful. Come, we’ll gather the other leaders and begin our talks.”
Dom’yan led them into one of the nearby buildings – which turned out to be a tavern. He made sure they were comfortable and had drinks before leaving them to gather the rest of the leaders. When the arrived, introductions were made and they immediately got down to business.
Rodney outlined their terms and made the proposal he and Elizabeth had agreed on. The Nagdalis listened intently and asked a few questions for clarification. Once he finished, they discussed it quietly among themselves for a few moments.
As they did so, he asked Evan and Chuck, “How are you doing? Were you able to keep up?”
They both nodded and Chuck said, “It’s a little quicker than we’re used to, but I didn’t think it was hard.”
“Me neither,” Evan replied. “It’s interesting, though. Different than we’re used to doing. I keep waiting for us to start haggling.”
Rodney laughed and shook his head. “That’s not the way among these peoples – at least not at first. They take their time to consider what’s being offered and whether it’s worth what they’re willing to give and then they respond and then we’ll have time to think about it and *then* we’ll get down to the real business and the haggling.”
After a few more minutes, the Nagdalis returned their attention to the Atlanteans. “We are willing to accept your offer with a few minor revisions,” Dom’yan told him.
Rodney nodded, signaling he was ready. He noted the minor changes the Nagdalis wanted to make – which were slight changes to quantities. Once they were finished he said, “I will have to take these back to our leader and discuss them with her. We will be ready in two days’ time to continue our negotiations in Atlantis.”
“That is fair, Rodney of Atlantis,” Dom’yan replied as they all stood. After the other leaders made their farewells, Dom’yan stalled them with, “Before you leave, please let me offer you a meal.”
“You know that isn’t necessary, Dom’yan,” Rodney replied, knowing the response was expected, regardless of what his real answer was.
“I insist,” Dom’yan persisted. “Please, tell your men to come out to my stall and I will feed you all before you go on your way.” He held his hands out pleadingly. “I’d hate to think that you’ll leave here thinking we were bad hosts.”
Rodney snorted in amusement, earning curious looks from the rest of his group. “Okay,” he replied. “We’ll come out for a meal – a small one.”
“Small my ass,” Dom’yan muttered just loud enough for them to hear as he lead them outside. “You tell me you’re all doing well and yet, it still looks like a stiff wind could blow all of you over.”
That earned a snort of amusement from Evan and Chuck and Dom’yan turned to look at them. “I was beginning to think they were stone deaf – I didn’t hear a word out of them the whole time.” Directing his attention to them, he asked, “So, what do you think of us?”
“I think that’s an unfair question,” Chuck replied slowly, “seeing as how we just met you. But so far, I think we’re off to a good start.”
Dom’yan looked pleased as he went back into his stall and began dishing out food for them and giving orders to his helpers.
“I’m serious, Dom’yan,” Rodney told him. “We only want a small meal.”
“Okay, okay,” Dom’yan replied, resigned. “This time. Next time, I expect you to come hungry.”
He still served up platefuls of food to the Atlanteans, Evan’s men taking the food with confused looks.
“It’s a custom to eat, break bread, whatever you want to call it, after any sort of negotiations,” Rodney told them as they situated themselves on the steps in front of the Stargate. “It’s sort of a goodwill gesture.”
Rodney watched the others as they ate, amused at how much they enjoyed the food. He idly wondered if he should take some of it back to Atlantis to test for addictive properties, but decided against it and that it was just good cooking.
“Can we make him part of the deal?” Smith asked. “We should try to get him to come back to Atlantis and cook for us.”
“I highly doubt he’ll leave permanently, but maybe we can get him to teach our cooks a few things,” Evan replied and Rodney could tell by the look on Evan’s face that he also wished they could entice Dom’yan away.
“I hope you guys weren’t too bored,” Rodney told the rest of Evan’s team. “I know negotiations are tough and ones done in another language are a real bitch.”
The guys shrugged and Smith said, “We got a few more hands of cards in, so it wasn’t a complete loss.”
“Is that game anywhere near being done?” Chuck asked, curious.
“Doubt it,” Johnston replied. “We’ve gotten pretty good at keeping it going. Besides, if it stopped, what else would we have to do on our downtime when we’re on another planet?”
“Start another game?” Evan replied with a quirk of his eyebrow.
After they finished, Rodney bid Dom’yan goodbye and they headed home. During the debriefing back on Atlantis, Elizabeth was specific in making sure she included Evan and Chuck when she asked how things went and got their impressions as well. She carefully listened to the Nagdalis’ proposed revisions and took a few minutes to mull them over before agreeing to the terms.
“Why aren’t they coming tomorrow?” she asked when Rodney informed her of when to expect the Nagdalis.
“Tomorrow is one of their high holy days,” Rodney replied. “They don’t travel and they won’t accept visitors of any sort – and especially not for business.”
“Okay.” Elizabeth began organizing her things to go. “Rodney, I would like you to brief me the day after tomorrow on what I’ll need to know and expect with the Nagdalis.”
Rodney nodded as they all took that as the cue to go. As he stood, Rodney said, “Elizabeth, I’d like to know why the Laprans aren’t on our list of tribes to negotiate with.” He followed her out of the conference room. “We should have at least asked them – out of courtesy, if nothing else.”
“You’ve made it abundantly clear how much you think we should trade with them, Rodney,” she replied, giving him a stern look. “And the main reason why we aren’t is because they haven’t approached us to do so.”
“Maybe they don’t know if they should,” Rodney countered. “Think about it – aside from the fact that I was on Lapras for four cycles, we helped them fight back against the Korsans. The Laprans probably don’t know what sort of reception they’d get from us if they asked. They probably think that you and the rest of Atlantis would see them as weak and unable to care for themselves. But at the same time, how does it look that we’re setting up trade negotiations with everyone else – *including the Korsans* – but not them?”
Elizabeth sighed and Rodney felt fairly certain he had just found a crack. “Depending on how things go with the Nagdalis, we’ll see about approaching the Laprans. In the meantime, I expect you to come up with a proposal that we could use that won’t make them feel like we’re condescending to trade with them.”
Rodney grinned before adding, “And I’d like to talk to you about how this is going to affect my lab time.” Seeing the curious look in her eyes, he quickly amended, “I’m just curious because I had a few pet projects that I would like to know if I need to shelve or not. And also what I should tell people if they ask if I can give them a hand.”
“You’ll be able to resume most of your normal duties once we’ve gone through all the tribes, Rodney,” Elizabeth replied calmly, giving away nothing. “Of course, there will be times when you’ll be needed to keep up relations with these people, but overall you’ll be able to get about 90% or so of your lab time back.”
“Thank you, Elizabeth,” Rodney replied with a quick bow. “What time?”
“Let’s make it for ten a.m.,” she replied with a smile. “Now, you better get going so you can look in on your pets.”
As he headed down to the labs, Rodney was elated that he had finally gotten an answer out of Elizabeth and she was actually going to allow them to see about trading with the Laprans. He didn’t know why he felt so strongly about it. It wasn’t as if he felt like the Atlanteans owed it to him for the time he’d spent on Lapras, because that was far from the case. But it could have something to do with wanting to keep in contact with them however he could. And he really did feel like they could both win from a trade agreement – regardless of whether or not they actually kept the goods they traded for or in turn traded them to other peoples.
Rodney worked for a few hours on his projects, getting them up to speed and he was pleased to see that they were progressing quicker than he’d hoped, but in the direction he’d been expecting them to. After dinner, he spent some time working on the proposal and finished just as Chuck and Evan pulled him away from his laptop for a city-wide movie night.
As he settled into a couch with his lovers, Rodney couldn’t help but notice that there were quite a few other same-sex couples there, mixed in with the opposite-sex couples as well as groups and singles, who were freely holding hands and cuddling. He couldn’t help but smile and relax into his lovers’ embrace – John and Carson’s sensitivity training had definitely done some good.
Rodney dragged Evan and Chuck with him to Elizabeth’s office for the meeting with the Nagdalis, figuring they’d benefit from the knowledge as well, considering they were going to be on the front lines with the different tribes.
“Okay,” he started once the other three were sitting on the other side of the table from him. He wiped his face with his hand and let out a deep breath. “Eye contact is important. They value it quite a bit, so don’t be afraid to make eye contact and hold it. They’ll do it with you, so don’t squirm, no matter how uncomfortable it feels. Posture’s also important – slouching, crossed legs, and leaning back in your chair with your arms crossed over your chest will imply that you’re not interested in what they have to say and what they’re offering. Hands folded in front of you – either on the table or in your lap – indicate that you’re hiding something, so it’s better if you can keep them in view as much as possible. Bowing is the preferred method of greeting. And I’ll do most of the talking, unless they try to draw Chuck and Evan into the conversation, since the Nagdalis know they know the language.
At that moment, the Gate came to life and Rodney said, “Okay, it’s show time.” He headed out with the others right behind him.
“I looked over your proposal,” Elizabeth told Rodney as they made their way to the Gate room floor. “And I think it’s very well done. So, if things go well with the Nagdalis, we’ll have them pass it along.”
Rodney nodded. “Thank you, Elizabeth,” he said as Dom’yan and the other Nagdali leaders came through the Gate. “Welcome to Atlantis,” he told them after they’d had a moment to look around in awe.
Dom’yan turned his attention to him and grinned. “This is amazing, Rodney of Atlantis,” he told him. “We’ve heard stories passed down through the generations of this city and the Ancestors, but we had never thought that any of it was actually true.”
“Well, I’m glad we haven’t disappointed you,” Rodney replied, amused, as the Nagdali delegation assembled in front of them. He bowed to them and said, “You already know Chuck and Evan, my husbands. And this is our leader, Elizabeth.” The Nagdalis bowed to them and the Atlanteans returned the gesture. “Now, if you’ll please follow me, we’ll get down to business.”
Rodney was surprised at how easily the negotiations went. It actually felt anticlimactic. Elizabeth had easily agreed to the Nagdalis’ revisions and the rest of the negotiations went smoothly. When the delegation left with the invitation for the Laprans, Rodney was bouncing on the balls of his feet and grinning like a loon.
Continue in Part 40
The complete header can be found in part 1.
Previous parts can be found here.
“At least we get a kind of extended leave,” Chuck said as he and Rodney gathered their things after the final briefing in the Mountain.
“Sure,” Evan replied easily from where he stood in the doorway, in a tone Rodney was sure he had picked up from John. “One in which we have to behave. I wish we could just gate back.”
“Caldwell isn’t going to be watching us twenty-four-seven, is he?” Chuck replied mischievously. “I’m sure we can find a few fun ways to pass the next three weeks.”
“And, I’m sure, make a good case for getting a new midway station up and running,” Rodney replied with a laugh as he shouldered his bag.
“I’m sure Caldwell would love to get behind you on that one,” Evan replied. “I doubt he’s very happy being a glorified taxi.”
“Well, then we’ll just have to see what we can do,” Chuck replied as he also shouldered his bag and the three of them headed out of the guest quarters.
They joined Elizabeth, John, and Carson in the Gate Room and after some final words from General Landry, they were beamed onto the bridge of the Daedalus.
“Welcome aboard the Daedalus, everyone,” Caldwell told them. “Colonels – congratulations on your promotions.”
“Thank you,” both John and Evan responded.
“I’m sure you know where the guest quarters are by now,” Caldwell said. As they nodded, he continued, “Good. Why don’t you get settled in and we’ll be on our way within half an hour.”
The quintet silently made their way down to the guest quarters, passing a number of the crew who were securing the ship’s cargo and taking care of other last minute pre-flight checks. By unspoken agreement, Elizabeth roomed alone, John and Carson took another room, and Chuck, Evan, and Rodney took the last.
After they settled in, they all met in the mess hall for lunch and to catch up on their respective leaves. Elizabeth confided that she had gone to see Simon for a couple of days so they could take care of some unfinished business. Afterwards, she had done some traveling and enjoyed the solitude and chance to relax. John and Carson regaled them with tales of Carson taking John home to meet his large and boisterous family. Rodney shared taking Chuck and Evan home to meet Jeannie and her family. Chuck and Evan were more subdued in telling about visiting their families. But they brightened as the five men told Elizabeth stories of what they had done in San Francisco.
“I’m glad that everyone’s leave was a mostly good one,” Elizabeth said as she stood once they had finished. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some paperwork I need to take care of before we get back to Atlantis. Apparently, even with all of this new technology, we haven’t figured out a way to streamline our office work.”
“I doubt it’ll take three weeks, though, Elizabeth,” John told her, making an unpleasant face, “even with the triplicate forms.”
“I doubt it too, but I’d rather get it done now rather than later. Don’t get into too much trouble, boys.”
As soon as Elizabeth was out of earshot, Evan leaned forward and folded his hands on the table. “So, we were thinking…” he started, “we need to have a little fun these next three weeks or we’ll go crazy.”
“Define ‘a little fun’ and ‘crazy’,” John replied as he leaned back in his chair, but behind his carefully composed expression, Rodney could see that he was definitely interested and possibly even a little amused. Carson, on the other hand, definitely looked apprehensive.
They carefully made plans that would allow them to enjoy their limited freedom without getting into any serious trouble and still give them time to take care of the duties they were expected to complete before arriving back in Atlantis.
The first couple days were taken up preparing for a day-long scavenger hunt with the winners deciding the next ‘game’. Chuck, Evan, and Rodney won, which was how they ended up playing a game of broom hockey in the makeshift gym with a few off-duty crew members. Caldwell didn’t seem completely pleased by the Post-its that littered his ship, or by the missing brooms and bars of soap, but didn’t say anything besides eyeing the Atlanteans dubiously and making a ship-wide announcement that he expected anyone participating in any unsanctioned games to completely clean up after themselves and return all equipment to its proper place.
Then, before they could raise any more suspicion, they took a few days off from anything even remotely suspect to make inroads into their own piles of paperwork, as well as let Caldwell relax, before beginning again. This time, John and Rodney played broom hockey against Evan and Chuck in the halls of the Daedalus, with Carson trailing behind them, refereeing and alerting them to anyone coming.
That did get Caldwell’s attention – even if they were in a rarely used section of the ship – and he called all five of them to the bridge. As they assembled, Rodney could see Major Marks was doing his best to not appear too amused by what they had been doing.
“Gentlemen,” Caldwell started, “I can assure you that I understand how long and tedious this trip is – I’ve done it more times than I can care count. But just because all of you are on stand down at this time, it does not give you free license to do as you please aboard my ship. Are we understood?”
The men all nodded.
“Good. Now, I have no compunction about locking you in your quarters until we reach Atlantis the next time you try to pull any stunts. Is this clear?”
“Crystal,” John and Evan both murmured as the others nodded.
Caldwell nodded once and said, “Dismissed.”
“Well, there goes a lot of things we could have done,” Chuck said when they got out of Caldwell’s hearing range.
“Oh?” John asked with a raised eyebrow.
Up until now, Chuck had been pretty quiet about ideas. He smirked a little as he said, “Well, I had been thinking about pushing the envelope with that one policy…” He snapped his fingers a couple times in thought. “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell or something like that?”
“You should’ve said something sooner,” Evan told Chuck with a mischievous glint in his eyes. “We could have totally run with that.”
“While I’m not usually one to agree to something like that,” Carson added lightly, “I think it could be fun – in the interest of keeping ourselves amused.”
“I think that in the interest of not being locked in our quarters for the next week and a half, as well as Elizabeth taking us down a peg or two, we should be good,” John told them seriously, though a faint smile was tugging at the corners of his mouth.
“Oh, we’ll be very good, sir,” Evan told him with a completely straight face.
Rodney laughed to himself – he had long ago learned that the only time Evan ever really called John ‘sir’ any more was during the course of good-natured bantering. “Afraid we’ll blow your playboy cover to the ship’s crew, John?” he asked lightly.
“What are you talking about?” Evan asked him, throwing his arm around John’s shoulders. “That cover was blown years ago.” To Rodney, he said, “Caldwell and the Daedalus saved our asses – again – and when we were beamed aboard, Sheppard was in the middle of a rant about the alien princesses and how he never sees it coming.” To John, he said, “I think Marks has liked you more ever since then.”
John simply raised his eyebrows, but didn’t respond. “I will neither confirm nor deny anything,” he told all of them as he moved out of Evan’s arm. “We’d better get out of the hallway before Caldwell decides he doesn’t want us loitering either.”
“Want to head to the mess with me?” Chuck asked Evan and Rodney. “I want to get a drink.”
Evan and Rodney shrugged and nodded as the group split up.
Once they were in the mess, the three men also got a snack and sat down at one of the tables. “I was thinking,” Chuck told them, “that when we get back to Atlantis, we should start doing the paperwork to make our relationship as official as possible – power of attorney, wills, stuff like that. It might be a little tricky with Rodney and I being Canadian and Evan being American, but I’m sure Elizabeth would know how to handle that.”
“Things have gotten a little easier for us in that regard since the Expedition started too,” Evan added. “Especially with international couples wanting to marry and all. But I agree – I think we should talk to Elizabeth about it. And maybe we shouldn’t wait until we’re back on Atlantis to do it.”
“And what would you be waiting to talk to me about?” Elizabeth asked as she joined them.
“We want to make things as official as possible for us,” Chuck told her.
“Okay,” she said as she looked between the three of them and then nodded. “It might be a little tricky with Evan being in the Air Force, but I’m sure we can make it work so that there’s no cause for suspicion. We could probably even start while we’re still en route to Atlantis. Think about what you want and we’ll go from there. I do need to speak with you, Rodney,” she said, shifting her focus to him. “We’ve had a number of requests from various peoples within the Lapran system wanting to do business with us. Since you know their language and customs, I’d like you to handle them and see if there’s anything of value that we can exchange.”
“Okay,” Rodney replied. “What about the Laprans?”
“We haven’t formally heard from them yet, but I’m sure we could see about arranging something after we’ve gone through the backlog of offers that we currently have.”
“And my lab time?”
“Will be put on hold for the time being.” She gave him a warm smile. “Don’t worry, Rodney, we’re not taking that away from you. It’s just that, considering that these alliances could be vital in the future to either us or them, I’d like to set them up as soon as possible. I know for a fact that you don’t have anything pressing that can’t wait for another few weeks before you resume.”
Rodney let out a slow breath. Part of him wanted to feel relieved that he wasn’t being kicked out of the labs permanently, but at the same time he had been looking forward to getting back to his work. But he was finally one step closer to achieving what they had originally intended to do when they first went to Lapras – make contact and set up trade relations if at all possible, and he thought that they might be able to do so. The textiles and glass could come in handy both on Atlantis and with other peoples that Atlantis traded with.
“You’ll have to teach me,” he finally said, crossing his arms over his chest. “Negotiating between the Laprans and the Korsans is one thing, setting up an ongoing trade agreement is something else.”
Elizabeth nodded. “Of course, though they’re not completely dissimilar.”
Rodney tilted his chin up slightly. “And I’ll need information on what we’re already trading with who and things of that nature. It obviously wouldn’t do for us to have too much of one thing and none of another.”
Elizabeth laughed as she replied, “Don’t worry, Rodney. I wasn’t expecting you to fly into this blind.” She stood and said, “Thank you for letting me interrupt your afternoon, gentlemen. And let me know about what you want to do.”
After Elizabeth left, Rodney looked between Evan and Chuck and said, “Well, that went over well.”
Chuck nodded before saying, “So, if you taught us Lapran, we could then help you with the negotiations and ease your workload some.”
“And you’ll be able to actually talk with my Lapran family the next time we visit,” Rodney added with a smile. He shrugged. “I guess now is as good a time as any to start. And we’re going to start with the first word I learned.” He picked up Chuck’s spoon and held it so they both could see it. “This is a spoon.”
Time went quickly after that and Rodney was grateful he had things to do to help him avoid a bad case of cabin fever. Chuck and Evan both picked up Lapran easily and soon the three of them were conversing in Lapran on a regular basis. Rodney told himself it was to help them reinforce what they had learned, but in the back of his mind, he knew it was also because he enjoyed conversing in what was now his other native language.
Chuck, Evan, and Rodney also met with Elizabeth a number of times to draft revisions to the wills they had originally drawn up before going to Atlantis to include each other and make sure everything was clearly stated so their families could contest as little as possible. They also had documents drafted to make the other two their health care proxy in the event it was needed and cover anything else they could think of.
Once everything was set up and they only had to wait until they reached Atlantis to officially ‘sign and file’ as Elizabeth called it, the three men breathed a sigh of relief.
“Well, that was absurdly morbid,” Evan said as they left Elizabeth’s quarters from the last of such visits.
Chuck nodded. “Morbid but necessary. I can’t wait until the day when stuff like that won’t be necessary.”
“I think it’ll always be necessary because the vast majority of people are morons,” Rodney replied wearily. “But hopefully it’ll get easier.” He reached out to touch them suddenly needing physical reassurance, then drew back as he looked up and down the deserted hallway.
As if sensing what he needed, Chuck pulled him into an embrace. “It’s okay, Rodney,” he told him softly. “We’re not going anywhere and neither are you. This is just another safeguard against what we know is out there.”
Evan’s hand came to rest on Rodney’s back between his shoulder blades and he gently rubbed. The warmth emanating from it was a comfortable presence.
Rodney took a deep breath and pulled away from them. “Sorry about that,” he told them before taking a deep breath.
“There’s nothing to be sorry for,” Evan told him. “We all need that sometimes. And the three of us were lucky enough to find people who will always be there for us.”
“Come on,” Chuck said, tugging on Rodney’s hand. “I know something that’ll make you feel better.”
“You’ve figured out a way to convince Elizabeth that we need to have an open door policy with Lapras?” Rodney asked hopefully.
“Not quite,” Chuck replied with an amused smile as he led them towards their quarters. “But I think you’ll enjoy this just the same.”
And the day before they were scheduled to arrive in Atlantis, the Atlanteans couldn’t help but have a rematch with the Daedalus crew. The guys were even able to convince Elizabeth to join in for a while. But things came to a quick halt when Caldwell showed up in the doorway of the gym.
“I thought I had made myself clear,” he finally said when all eyes were on him.
“You did, sir,” Evan replied, completely serious. “You said that anyone involved in any ‘unsanctioned’ games had to clean up after themselves once they were done. We know exactly where everything goes and plan to return them in excellent condition.”
“Good,” Caldwell replied after a moment of studying them all and Rodney was certain they were going to be in a shit-load of trouble.
“Did you want to join us for a few minutes, sir?” one of the crew asked.
Rodney was surprised to see Caldwell actually seem to consider it for a moment before saying, “Well, I did come all the way down here. I might as well see what the attraction is, considering that you all seem so intent on playing regardless of my warnings.”
The tension visibly decreased and the airman who had extended the invitation gave up his broom. They resumed play and Rodney, from his position as goalie, was surprised at how good Caldwell was. He had never pegged him as the hockey type and Rodney’s view of him went up a bit, given that he seemed to know when to pick his battles.
The Atlanteans finally won the game, but it was close the entire time. And Rodney was surprised to see that Caldwell seemed to be enjoying himself. As they cleaned up, Rodney was positive he caught a glimpse of a smiling Caldwell talking privately with Elizabeth, who seemed pleased with whatever was being said. Rodney couldn’t help but smile. It was about time she found someone – even if ‘long-distance relationship’ wouldn’t even begin to cover what they would have.
When Rodney arrived in his lab the morning after they had arrived back in Atlantis, he found a number of emails from Elizabeth marked ‘URGENT’ that contained the information from the various tribes who had contacted Atlantis while they were away. Rodney sighed and began making notes on each proposition and what Atlantis, or one of its other allies, could offer them.
It took him two days to get through everything, since it was apparent that every tribe except the Morykons and the Laprans had contacted them. Rodney was surprised that even the Korsans had sent a very tentative message to them, expressing an interesting in pursuing a formal and more positive relationship than the one that had been started on Lapras. Once he had finished making up proposals for each tribe, he took them to Elizabeth, and after reading them over, she signed off on each one and told him to get to work contacting the tribes and setting up arrangements for delegates to come to Atlantis.
“What, you’re not going to teach me anything first?” Rodney asked, surprised, as they finished up.
“It’s not like they’re going to be coming en masse right away, Rodney,” Elizabeth told him calmly, with a hint of amusement. “We’ll have time for me to teach you. Now, get going. Remember – the quicker you get this done, the quicker you’ll get your lab time back.”
“You’re an evil, evil woman, Elizabeth,” Rodney replied as he stood and collected his things. He froze as soon as he had done so, his mind finally having completely caught up with what they were doing. “I think you’ve forgotten something, Elizabeth.” She looked at him questioningly as he continued, “These people aren’t exactly sitting by the phone, laptop, or Stargate waiting for a reply. In order to contact them, I’m going to have to actually go to them.”
“Or you could send Lorne and his team,” she replied, sitting back in her chair and idly playing with a pen. “I know you’ve been teaching him and Chuck Lapran.”
“While that’s true, he’s not ready to actually hold a conversation like this by himself. Plus, he doesn’t know all the customs yet. If you sent just him and his team, we may as well kiss these trade agreements good-bye.” He tapped his data pad. “Besides, in most cases, these people know me – or, at least, they know of me. That’ll go a long way to helping us succeed as well. I need to go with them. Evan can act as my back-up and this will help him refine his Lapran and he’ll get a lot of practical experience, as well as an in, so you can send him in the future. Hell, send Chuck with us too – that way you’ll have three of us that can deal with them in the future.”
Elizabeth studied at Rodney for a long moment without replying before saying, “Okay.”
“Okay?” Rodney asked in surprise. “You’re agreeing?”
“I am,” she replied with a nod. “Your logic is sound and it *would* be a good idea to have as many people as possible that can communicate with this part of the galaxy and who they can trust. As we’ve learned, you can never have too many allies.”
Rodney grinned. “So when can we leave?”
“As soon as all preparations are made. But,” she paused and aimed a level gaze at Rodney. “I want you all to come back between tribes. I don’t want you hopping from one to another in the interest of ‘saving time’. I want an in person report on each one. Are we clear?”
“Crystal,” Rodney replied. While he knew that this would slow them down some, he could see the necessity of it.
“You’re free to go,” Elizabeth replied, sensing his excitement and desire to get moving.
As he headed out to the control room and Chuck, Rodney hit his earpiece to speak with Evan. “Colonel Lorne,” he said over the public channel. “Please report to the Control room immediately.”
“What’s up?” Evan asked as he entered a few minutes later immediately zeroing in on Rodney and Chuck, a confused and slightly worried look on his face. “As much as I appreciate being pulled away from doing staff rotations, it doesn’t look like there’s a crisis on our hands.”
“There isn’t,” Rodney told him from where he was leaning against the console. Including Chuck, he said, “I’ve just been informed by Elizabeth that we’ve got a mission to take care of. Several, in fact. We’re going off-world to make trade overtures to the other tribes in the Lapran system. Your team is going to be our back-up and Elizabeth wants the two of you to consider this as a learning experience so you can also be liaisons to the tribes. And she wants us to leave as soon as Evan’s team can assemble and we can get our things together.” He straightened up. “We better get moving – this is going to take a while.”
Both Chuck and Evan seemed surprised, but they did as they were told and as they headed back to their quarters, Evan got in touch with his team and gave them a quick rundown. When they arrived at the Gate a few minutes later, Evan’s team was assembled and ready to go for a few days: side arms subtly present, but P-90s distinctly lacking. Rodney gave them a more complete rundown of their mission.
After he finished, the team was silent as the Gate was dialed and they headed through. On the other side, they appeared on a dais in the middle of a stone plaza. There was a market in full swing all around them and people were stopping to look curiously at the newcomers.
Rodney smiled when he spotted the familiar face of Dom’yan and headed towards him without a word to the rest of the Atlanteans, who quietly followed behind him. “Hello, Dom’yan,” he said as he approached.
“Rodney of Atlantis!” Dom’yan replied, surprise quickly turning to pleasure. “I never thought I’d see the day that you’d show up on my doorstep. What can I do for you and your friends?”
“We’re here to invite Nagdali delegates to Atlantis to discuss trade terms.”
Dom’yan wiped his hands on a cloth and called into the back of the stall for someone to come watch the front before coming out to join them. He touched Rodney on the cheek in greeting before taking in the rest of the group and bowing to them. He then grinned and clapped Rodney on the shoulder. “Congratulations,” he said. “I see you’ve married since the last time I’ve seen you. So, which one’s your first husband?”
There was a slight exclamation of surprise from Evan and Chuck as Rodney replied, “Neither. We have an equal partnership.”
Dom’yan looked at him, puzzled. “Doesn’t that lead to confusion over duties and responsibilities?”
“Somehow we muddle through,” Rodney replied, amused. “I’d like to present Chuck and Evan,” he said, turning serious, as he touched each of them in turn. “They’re here to learn from me how we do things and they’re already fairly proficient in the common language. The rest of our team is here to provide back-up if the need arises.”
Dom’yan looked hurt. “I’m surprised at you, Rodney of Atlantis! I would think you know us better than that by now.”
“Oh, *I* do, but my leader wanted to be certain after everything that happened with the Korsans.”
Dom’yan nodded as he started walking and waved for them to follow him. “When you put it that way, it is much more understandable. And we are all very proud of what you and the Laprans have done. The Korsans have not bothered us since and we are eternally grateful. Come, we’ll gather the other leaders and begin our talks.”
Dom’yan led them into one of the nearby buildings – which turned out to be a tavern. He made sure they were comfortable and had drinks before leaving them to gather the rest of the leaders. When the arrived, introductions were made and they immediately got down to business.
Rodney outlined their terms and made the proposal he and Elizabeth had agreed on. The Nagdalis listened intently and asked a few questions for clarification. Once he finished, they discussed it quietly among themselves for a few moments.
As they did so, he asked Evan and Chuck, “How are you doing? Were you able to keep up?”
They both nodded and Chuck said, “It’s a little quicker than we’re used to, but I didn’t think it was hard.”
“Me neither,” Evan replied. “It’s interesting, though. Different than we’re used to doing. I keep waiting for us to start haggling.”
Rodney laughed and shook his head. “That’s not the way among these peoples – at least not at first. They take their time to consider what’s being offered and whether it’s worth what they’re willing to give and then they respond and then we’ll have time to think about it and *then* we’ll get down to the real business and the haggling.”
After a few more minutes, the Nagdalis returned their attention to the Atlanteans. “We are willing to accept your offer with a few minor revisions,” Dom’yan told him.
Rodney nodded, signaling he was ready. He noted the minor changes the Nagdalis wanted to make – which were slight changes to quantities. Once they were finished he said, “I will have to take these back to our leader and discuss them with her. We will be ready in two days’ time to continue our negotiations in Atlantis.”
“That is fair, Rodney of Atlantis,” Dom’yan replied as they all stood. After the other leaders made their farewells, Dom’yan stalled them with, “Before you leave, please let me offer you a meal.”
“You know that isn’t necessary, Dom’yan,” Rodney replied, knowing the response was expected, regardless of what his real answer was.
“I insist,” Dom’yan persisted. “Please, tell your men to come out to my stall and I will feed you all before you go on your way.” He held his hands out pleadingly. “I’d hate to think that you’ll leave here thinking we were bad hosts.”
Rodney snorted in amusement, earning curious looks from the rest of his group. “Okay,” he replied. “We’ll come out for a meal – a small one.”
“Small my ass,” Dom’yan muttered just loud enough for them to hear as he lead them outside. “You tell me you’re all doing well and yet, it still looks like a stiff wind could blow all of you over.”
That earned a snort of amusement from Evan and Chuck and Dom’yan turned to look at them. “I was beginning to think they were stone deaf – I didn’t hear a word out of them the whole time.” Directing his attention to them, he asked, “So, what do you think of us?”
“I think that’s an unfair question,” Chuck replied slowly, “seeing as how we just met you. But so far, I think we’re off to a good start.”
Dom’yan looked pleased as he went back into his stall and began dishing out food for them and giving orders to his helpers.
“I’m serious, Dom’yan,” Rodney told him. “We only want a small meal.”
“Okay, okay,” Dom’yan replied, resigned. “This time. Next time, I expect you to come hungry.”
He still served up platefuls of food to the Atlanteans, Evan’s men taking the food with confused looks.
“It’s a custom to eat, break bread, whatever you want to call it, after any sort of negotiations,” Rodney told them as they situated themselves on the steps in front of the Stargate. “It’s sort of a goodwill gesture.”
Rodney watched the others as they ate, amused at how much they enjoyed the food. He idly wondered if he should take some of it back to Atlantis to test for addictive properties, but decided against it and that it was just good cooking.
“Can we make him part of the deal?” Smith asked. “We should try to get him to come back to Atlantis and cook for us.”
“I highly doubt he’ll leave permanently, but maybe we can get him to teach our cooks a few things,” Evan replied and Rodney could tell by the look on Evan’s face that he also wished they could entice Dom’yan away.
“I hope you guys weren’t too bored,” Rodney told the rest of Evan’s team. “I know negotiations are tough and ones done in another language are a real bitch.”
The guys shrugged and Smith said, “We got a few more hands of cards in, so it wasn’t a complete loss.”
“Is that game anywhere near being done?” Chuck asked, curious.
“Doubt it,” Johnston replied. “We’ve gotten pretty good at keeping it going. Besides, if it stopped, what else would we have to do on our downtime when we’re on another planet?”
“Start another game?” Evan replied with a quirk of his eyebrow.
After they finished, Rodney bid Dom’yan goodbye and they headed home. During the debriefing back on Atlantis, Elizabeth was specific in making sure she included Evan and Chuck when she asked how things went and got their impressions as well. She carefully listened to the Nagdalis’ proposed revisions and took a few minutes to mull them over before agreeing to the terms.
“Why aren’t they coming tomorrow?” she asked when Rodney informed her of when to expect the Nagdalis.
“Tomorrow is one of their high holy days,” Rodney replied. “They don’t travel and they won’t accept visitors of any sort – and especially not for business.”
“Okay.” Elizabeth began organizing her things to go. “Rodney, I would like you to brief me the day after tomorrow on what I’ll need to know and expect with the Nagdalis.”
Rodney nodded as they all took that as the cue to go. As he stood, Rodney said, “Elizabeth, I’d like to know why the Laprans aren’t on our list of tribes to negotiate with.” He followed her out of the conference room. “We should have at least asked them – out of courtesy, if nothing else.”
“You’ve made it abundantly clear how much you think we should trade with them, Rodney,” she replied, giving him a stern look. “And the main reason why we aren’t is because they haven’t approached us to do so.”
“Maybe they don’t know if they should,” Rodney countered. “Think about it – aside from the fact that I was on Lapras for four cycles, we helped them fight back against the Korsans. The Laprans probably don’t know what sort of reception they’d get from us if they asked. They probably think that you and the rest of Atlantis would see them as weak and unable to care for themselves. But at the same time, how does it look that we’re setting up trade negotiations with everyone else – *including the Korsans* – but not them?”
Elizabeth sighed and Rodney felt fairly certain he had just found a crack. “Depending on how things go with the Nagdalis, we’ll see about approaching the Laprans. In the meantime, I expect you to come up with a proposal that we could use that won’t make them feel like we’re condescending to trade with them.”
Rodney grinned before adding, “And I’d like to talk to you about how this is going to affect my lab time.” Seeing the curious look in her eyes, he quickly amended, “I’m just curious because I had a few pet projects that I would like to know if I need to shelve or not. And also what I should tell people if they ask if I can give them a hand.”
“You’ll be able to resume most of your normal duties once we’ve gone through all the tribes, Rodney,” Elizabeth replied calmly, giving away nothing. “Of course, there will be times when you’ll be needed to keep up relations with these people, but overall you’ll be able to get about 90% or so of your lab time back.”
“Thank you, Elizabeth,” Rodney replied with a quick bow. “What time?”
“Let’s make it for ten a.m.,” she replied with a smile. “Now, you better get going so you can look in on your pets.”
As he headed down to the labs, Rodney was elated that he had finally gotten an answer out of Elizabeth and she was actually going to allow them to see about trading with the Laprans. He didn’t know why he felt so strongly about it. It wasn’t as if he felt like the Atlanteans owed it to him for the time he’d spent on Lapras, because that was far from the case. But it could have something to do with wanting to keep in contact with them however he could. And he really did feel like they could both win from a trade agreement – regardless of whether or not they actually kept the goods they traded for or in turn traded them to other peoples.
Rodney worked for a few hours on his projects, getting them up to speed and he was pleased to see that they were progressing quicker than he’d hoped, but in the direction he’d been expecting them to. After dinner, he spent some time working on the proposal and finished just as Chuck and Evan pulled him away from his laptop for a city-wide movie night.
As he settled into a couch with his lovers, Rodney couldn’t help but notice that there were quite a few other same-sex couples there, mixed in with the opposite-sex couples as well as groups and singles, who were freely holding hands and cuddling. He couldn’t help but smile and relax into his lovers’ embrace – John and Carson’s sensitivity training had definitely done some good.
Rodney dragged Evan and Chuck with him to Elizabeth’s office for the meeting with the Nagdalis, figuring they’d benefit from the knowledge as well, considering they were going to be on the front lines with the different tribes.
“Okay,” he started once the other three were sitting on the other side of the table from him. He wiped his face with his hand and let out a deep breath. “Eye contact is important. They value it quite a bit, so don’t be afraid to make eye contact and hold it. They’ll do it with you, so don’t squirm, no matter how uncomfortable it feels. Posture’s also important – slouching, crossed legs, and leaning back in your chair with your arms crossed over your chest will imply that you’re not interested in what they have to say and what they’re offering. Hands folded in front of you – either on the table or in your lap – indicate that you’re hiding something, so it’s better if you can keep them in view as much as possible. Bowing is the preferred method of greeting. And I’ll do most of the talking, unless they try to draw Chuck and Evan into the conversation, since the Nagdalis know they know the language.
At that moment, the Gate came to life and Rodney said, “Okay, it’s show time.” He headed out with the others right behind him.
“I looked over your proposal,” Elizabeth told Rodney as they made their way to the Gate room floor. “And I think it’s very well done. So, if things go well with the Nagdalis, we’ll have them pass it along.”
Rodney nodded. “Thank you, Elizabeth,” he said as Dom’yan and the other Nagdali leaders came through the Gate. “Welcome to Atlantis,” he told them after they’d had a moment to look around in awe.
Dom’yan turned his attention to him and grinned. “This is amazing, Rodney of Atlantis,” he told him. “We’ve heard stories passed down through the generations of this city and the Ancestors, but we had never thought that any of it was actually true.”
“Well, I’m glad we haven’t disappointed you,” Rodney replied, amused, as the Nagdali delegation assembled in front of them. He bowed to them and said, “You already know Chuck and Evan, my husbands. And this is our leader, Elizabeth.” The Nagdalis bowed to them and the Atlanteans returned the gesture. “Now, if you’ll please follow me, we’ll get down to business.”
Rodney was surprised at how easily the negotiations went. It actually felt anticlimactic. Elizabeth had easily agreed to the Nagdalis’ revisions and the rest of the negotiations went smoothly. When the delegation left with the invitation for the Laprans, Rodney was bouncing on the balls of his feet and grinning like a loon.
Continue in Part 40
