Trust Once Broken | SGA John Sheppard

0.84.0

Hello Everyone! I'm back. I'm sorry, this chapter took a bit longer to write than expected. I couldn't quite decide the direction I want to go with it. I hope you are all safe and well!

Happy Reading!

><><

"Hey, how are you?"

Kai craned her neck to look up at John who had just come around the corner. She was crouched in front of an open panel with several ruined circuit boards sitting near her feet. She had been working on trying to repair just one of the many damaged systems on the Daedalus. McKay had spear headed the work and assigned her to try and repair the ship's backup CO2 scrubbers. The deeper she dug into the damage however, the more clear it became that there was nothing she could do to fix it. There simply weren't enough parts to put it back together.

"I'm fine," Kai said. Although the truth was she was already beginning to feel the effects of the lack of air. It had been several hours since the life support failed and with so many people on board things were going to get bad fast.

John frowned at her. She tried to flash him a reassuring smile, but he didn't seem to believe her. He snorted. "Yeah me too," he agreed wearily, but this close she could hear how much harder his heart was working to compensate for the lowering oxygen levels. "Any luck?" John asked. He turned and slid down the wall to sit on the ground beside where she was working.

"Not really," she heaved out a sigh. "All of the circuits were fried in the fire," She dropped down beside him. "Doesn't really matter anyway."

"Why?" John asked in surprise. It wasn't like Kai to give up so easily. Although he could smell the acrid scent of the burned out computer parts laying in a pile at their feet.

Kai sighed. "We'll run out of air first, then more than likely freeze to death before the CO2 becomes a real problem."

"So why the hell does McKay have you working on this?"

"Hermiod is working on the heat and he and Zelenka are working on the air. There's only so many oxygen tanks to go around. Priorities," Kai said with a shrug. "Besides, this is the first time I've ever worked on Asgardian technology. It's not exactly intuitive."

John grunted and leaned his head back against the wall. "So we'll freeze to death before CO2 poisoning, huh? Well that's something to look forward to."

Kai snorted, leave it to John to be able to find the humor in their impending death. "Probably we'll freeze to death," she allowed. "It depends on the relative density of the ships insulation."

John nodded as though it actually mattered. Dead was dead. "So what are the odds McKay can get the O2 back?" John asked after a moment. He already knew the answer. The fact that Kai had chosen to sit beside him rather than keep working was evidence enough.

Kai met his gaze from a foot away and held it, the truth in her eyes. Unless someone came up with a brilliant plan they would be out of air in less than twelve hours. Neither she nor John were ones to delude themselves when it came to the harsh realities of their lives. It was unlikely either one of them would live to a ripe old age. Although she had always envisioned herself going out in combat, not suffocating to death with people from another galaxy.

John nodded grimly. "Yeah that's what I thought."

The two of them sat together in the hall with their legs out in front of them. John turned his head towards her. It was rare for them to have this quiet moment together. He reached out and laced his fingers with hers. Her hands were so small and delicate. He was in absolute awe of all the things she could do with them. The same hands that had been trained to kill could fix and rebuild and fly almost as well as he could.