Tables Turned (1/1)
Title: Tables Turned
Author: Nytel
Rating: PG
Pairing: None.
Characters: John, Rodney, a teeny bit of Lorne
Spoilers: Inspired by a moment in The Prodigal (514), but I wouldn't say there are any spoilers.
Genre: Gen fic, Humor, Friendship, Snark
Summary: During the senior staff meeting earlier that week, John had agreed to it, because at the time he'd seen nothing wrong with the idea. Now that he was actually in a room full of people taking Puddle Jumper Repair 101 he wasn't so keen.
Word Count: 1,062
Beta: None, so if you see any mistakes, please let me know and I'll fix them. :)
Disclaimer: I am merely borrowing them. No copyright infringement is intended.
A/N: Written for ladyaugustana, and because I haven't written Atlantis boys in a while. *g*
Tables Turned
It was a part of their new mandatory training, courtesy of Mr. Woolsey. During the senior staff meeting earlier that week, John had agreed to it, because at the time he’d seen nothing wrong with the idea. Now that he was actually in a room full of other people taking Puddle Jumper Repair 101 he wasn’t so keen.
Of course it made sense for any person with the gene to know how to be able to make the most basic, and potentially life saving fixes to a puddle jumper, but that didn’t mean John actually enjoyed taking the time to learn it. Especially not since Woolsey had granted Rodney the right to make it an ‘official’ course, complete with a timed test at the end, and a little certificate to be handed out upon completion. Truthfully, this whole thing was turning out to be annoying as hell.
Zelenka had made some sort of simulation program and loading it onto a bunch of tablet PCs. It replicated the power readings and diagnostics of a broken jumper, so that each of the ‘students’ could learn how to deal with them effectively in a classroom setting. In theory it all sounded great…
John sighed, and shifted uncomfortably on his stool in Rodney’s lab, a.k.a. their classroom. Lorne, who was sitting next to John, seemed not at all bothered by the hard and uncomfortable seats. But John’s was digging into his ass something fierce.
“Colonel Sheppard,” Rodney said in an exasperated voice, drawing the attention of the other nine students to him. “We’re moving on to the next scenario. If you’re done daydreaming, then perhaps we can actually start.”
John grumbled some sort of assent under his breath and waved his hand in Rodney’s direction, indicating he should just get on with it.
The scientist gritted his teeth, but continued. “Now everyone needs to select situation number four from the program. This is your final task, and also your course evaluation to see if any of you have actually been paying the slightest bit of attention for the past four hours. It will simulate a jumper whose life support system has just failed due to coming under heavy fire from a wraith dart. There’s enough oxygen in each ship to last thirty minutes, so that’s how long you have to complete the virtual fix. Any questions?”
John raised his hand (Rodney’s rule in the ‘classroom’) before he spoke. “Don’t we get recess or something?”
Rodney shot him an icy glare. “Now I know why you had so many detentions in school.”
John sighed. It’d been worth a shot…
“Okay,” Rodney announced. “You can all start.” As people rushed to select the right option on their laptops, he added. “And no cheating!”
John snorted as he chose option four on the laptop. And now he knew why Rodney had always failed his TA evaluations in grad school…
John grinned when he saw the simulated diagnostics pop up on his screen. This wasn’t going to be that hard. He started clicking away, and rerouting power from systems that had it in excess to where it needed to be. He was just about finished, when a ‘Low Oxygen’ message started to flash on his screen, along with a ten second countdown. He checked his watch quickly as the number ticked from ten to nine, then nine to eight. It couldn’t have been half an hour already…
He leaned over to look at Lorne’s tablet, but his wasn’t flashing any warnings. “Sir?” Lorne asked quietly.
“I said no cheating!” Rodney spat out in an irritated voice as he stalked over to them.
John sat back upright and shrugged his shoulders. “I wasn’t cheating, but something’s wrong with mine.”
Rodney rolled his eyes and folded his arms across his chest. “Oh really.”
John nodded, pointing at his laptop, which was now flashing the message ‘You’re dead!’ at him. “My fake jumper ran out of air already, and it can’t have been thirty minutes since I started.”
“It hasn’t been,” Rodney replied. “It’s been fifteen.”
What threw John was that Rodney didn’t seem at all surprised by this. “But you told us we got thirty minutes!” At the moment John didn’t care that he sounded like a spoiled child, because this was absolutely not fair.
Rodney smiled, and John just knew he was not going to like the next words out of the scientist’s mouth. “Everyone else got thirty. You got fifteen.”
John clenched his fists beneath the table and had force himself to keep his temper in check. “How come I only got fifteen minutes?” He asked, fighting to keep his voice even.
“Well you only ever give me fifteen minutes to fix things. I was just being fair…”
John took a deep breath. “Rodney…” He said slowly. This was so not funny.
“Not so much fun now that the tables are turned, is it?” Rodney asked as he smirked. Before John could think of a suitably rude response, McKay had walked back towards his desk and sat down, waiting for the other people to finish.
“Oh,” he added after a second. “And since you didn’t finish in time, that means you didn’t pass, you don’t get your certificate, and you’ll have to take the course again tomorrow morning.”
John stood up quickly, the legs of his stool scraping against the floor and making a loud screeching noise. Not bothering to push it back in he headed for the door. As great of a scientist as Rodney was, and as much as John would never trade him for an alternate team member, he hated that Rodney knew exactly how to push his buttons.
Granted of course, that John knew exactly how to push back. But seriously, in a life or death situation fixing something in the least amount of time possible was a very good thing. All he ever did was… encourage Rodney to fulfill his potential. Though obviously the scientist did not view it that way at all. It was almost enough to make John regret pushing Rodney so hard on their last mission, since obviously that’s what this revenge was all about.
“See you tomorrow!” Rodney called out cheerily to his retreating back, and it was all John could do to keep walking and not turn around and give McKay a piece of his mind.
The End