wickedwords

Fandom: SGA
Summary: 4 people. 4 puddle jumpers. 400 words
Gen. Markham, Beckett, Sheppard, Zelenka

Thanks to

elynross for betaing this. I make no money, I mean no harm. All mistakes are my own

400 Words About 4 Puddle Jumpers

Betty made eyes at everyone, but she had a favorite and it wasn't John. With John, she was sluggish and resistant to commands, practically rolling her eyes and fanning herself, saying "Oh, honey. You just don't have it, do you?" With Markham, she looped and rolled at the slightest thought, his hands guiding her easily, as eager and willing as a date on prom night. So when the dart came and the call went out for the pilots to assemble, naturally Markham grabbed his best girl, trusting that the two of them could defend Atlantis.

Betty never made it back.

***

When Carson had to fly to the mainland, he always took Huey; they'd ridden out the storm together, and he trusted Huey to get him back to Atlantis. Like a fat little pony, the kind you rented in the summer, Huey was always a little faster and a little more responsive whenever they headed back home. Even tempered and plodding, Huey was never shaken by any sudden actions, and Carson felt safer with him than any other jumper. So when they loaded the nuke into Huey's cargo area, Carson's heart pounded. He knew that this time, Huey wasn't coming home.

***

Snap climbed like a homesick angel, and John loved him for that. All spit and polish, sharp actions, fine lines, Snap was a skittish thoroughbred, requiring a deft hand on his controls. Carson wouldn't take him if he had the choice, but John adored the highly strung jumper with its atypical response time, grabbing it for off-world missions. Snap's responsiveness didn't help when the prisoners of Olesia shot at them, and John swore that as soon as he could, he'd bring the crashed jumper home. In John's mind, 'leave no one behind' applied to puddle jumpers as well as people.

***

Zelenka didn't have the gene, yet he knew the jumpers better than most of their pilots. Domino was the one he spent the most time working on; he suspected that she was something of a hypochondriac. Her warning lights came on more frequently than those of any other jumper, and while Zelenka had no fear about twisting knobs or swapping crystals, the pilots preferred to avoid it, if possible.

Zelenka was working on her when Ford knocked him out and used the emergency autopilot to head off-planet. Maybe the pilots were right and Domino was simply bad luck after all.

The End