Cancellation

Usually seeing the event horizon of a stargate meant either the start of a mission or the end of one in the knowledge that another mission was just on the...horizon. Now however, the mission was well and truly coming to an end, and not even all the bad puns in the universe could change that.

"Easy people. One at a time."

Apparently, neither could ordinary language. Or rather, would not, rather than could not.

Nicholas Rush had learnt many things from the Stargate Program, mostly in the realm of science. There was however, the odd piece of information that stretched over from the military side of things and that was that the difference between not wanting to do something and not able to do something was a fine one. So, come to mind this particular scenario, where the crew of Destiny headed through a wormhole created by the stargates of the ursini seeding ship, enough power being generated to transport the ship's crew to a now thoroughly boring planet several billion light years away. There was no point in asking what the likes of Scott or Greer thought about the decision made by SGC, to get the crew of Destiny home in order to better prepare for the looming Lucian Alliance attack on Earth. Whatever they thought, they would do their duty, or some misguided sense thereof.

"Telling you, as soon as I get home-..."

Standing in the back of the room, the scientist drowned out the verbatim of the 'scientists'-men and women who were about as far away from cats on the spectrum of curiosity as it was possible to get. Sure, they could work hydroponics, work in the realm of mathematics that ignored relativity and even express interest in the concept of sentience in the background radiation of the universe itself, but apparently none of that compared to the comforts of home. As far as Rush could tell, there hadn't been a word of protest from any of them. Gone were the minds willing to execute a mutiny to better their situation, now they were obeying the military without question.

"Rush, you can't stay here forever you know."

Which, in a sense, the physicist was as well. And he hated himself for it.

"Colonel Young..." the genius murmured, watching as another quartet of individuals entered the 'puddle' of the wormhole. "I expected you to be on your way home by now. Or is the captain fated to go down with the ship?"

"Maybe in the Navy, but this is the Air Force."

Rush snorted, not meeting Young's eye as he leaned against the wall. He knew why Young was still here-true, there was the general protocol of chain of command, of the commander seeing his men off before joining them, but the fact was that even after all that had occurred, even after a history of loathing and reconciliation, the colonel knew that Rush wasn't his man. Not exactly an enemy, but certainly someone that the brass would want an eye kept on. To make sure that he didn't stay onboard Destiny after everyone else had left. While SGC clearly didn't want the ship, they still wanted his mind.

"You know Rush, you may as well leave now," Young said, breaking the scientist's train of thought. "You can't run, you can't fly the ship alone and-..."

"I know. But if we leave now, none of us will ever be able to."

Both men fell silent, and as there were less than ten people still waiting to go through the wormhole, it was a silence that was felt by both. Rush wasn't averse to having access to Earth, of helping the ursini in exchange for the seeding ship. However, he would have thought that actually using it would be secondary to finishing what the Ancients had started. The Stargate Program was officially a means of gathering technology to defend mankind from the likes of the goa'uld and every other extra-terrestrial threat that was encountered over the years, but there had also been a sense of discovery present. Out here, on the other side of the universe, there was more to discovery than the Milky Way and Pegasus combined, and foes much less of a threat than anything previously encountered.

And maybe that was the reason why the expedition was being recalled. Everything to discover, but nothing to fight. No parasites, no space vampires, no ascended beings with delusions of grandeur...just some aliens who wanted a ship for reasons that for all Rush knew, could be simple curiosity. Well, if the blueberries managed to make the transition from one galaxy to another, they were welcome to Destiny as far as Rush was concerned. They'd certainly have gone the nine yards to earn such a right. Not like the three remaining soldiers in the room, which closed the gap between them and Rush in about five.

"Time to go doc," Greer murmured, as he and Scott walked over to Rush. "You're the last passenger."

"Passenger...or prisoner?"

"Cheyanne Mountain's got a brig, you're welcome to it as far as I'm concerned."

Rush noticed that the sergeant was holding his rifle a bit harder than was necessary. Well, he didn't care. Nodding sullenly, he walked towards the wormhole, a one way door from Destiny and discovery. He didn't care what any of them thought.

Right now, robbed of the only chance he'd get of unravelling the foundation of the universe itself, Nicholas Rush didn't really care about anything.

A/N

No, I doubt that the show's plot after Resurgence will resemble this in any way. This oneshot is more of a 'vent your spleen' moment than a stab at canon, something that I do rather than use a forum for (which often gets nasty). Simply put, this is my expression of frustration that SyFy has cancelled Stargate Universe...or will, after the end of season 2.

This could get as fiery as a forum, but I'll be honest-Stargate Universe had distinct flaws along with distinct strengths. Often it was a case of how one looked at it, how it was a radical departure from the previous Stargate series in tone and style, but perhaps the most realistic incarnation of them. I can't be that impartial admittedly-it was the first Stargate series I ever really watched bar the original film, which I saw before SG-1 was released. Heck, I only got the dvd set for SG-1 recently and I haven't even started on Atlantis. Still, nostalgia aside, I feel that SGU had a marked improvement over Season 2-we had the background radiation plot, we'd got past the 'stumbling' phase of resources and Destiny's controls and simply put, the writing was getting better, which in turn made the characters better as well. So it's a bitter pill to swallow for a show to be cancelled after showing marked improvement. Still, at least we've been given warning, which might allow Season 2 to conclude the series rather than leaving us on a cliffhanger.

Anyway, my spleen's been vented. It's been fun. I guess I'll have this section of to get me going. ;)