What's on your mind?
Posted on Tue Oct 21st, 2025 @ 1:48pm by Commander Aaron Wander & Lieutenant Colonel Jonathon Raynor
Mission:
Echoes of the Fallen
Location: Raynor's Office -SGC
979 words - 2 OF Standard Post Measure
Raynor led the way down the corridor, boots echoing faintly against the utilitarian concrete floors of the sublevel. The place had the same smell as every military base he’d ever been on — metal, recycled air, and just a faint hint of burnt coffee. His office wasn’t much different: standard-issue concrete walls, reinforced steel framing, the hum of ventilation overhead.
He pushed the door open and stepped aside for Aaron. “Home sweet bunker,” he quipped, sweeping a hand toward the sparse layout. A desk sat squarely against the wall, two chairs in front of it, a small couch off to the side with a low table and a couple more chairs tucked in. The space wasn’t decorated so much as it was claimed: a laptop open on the desk, a few Air Force plaques, and a shelf with models. The centerpiece was an F-302 fighter interceptor, wings angled sharp, looking ready to launch.
Raynor dropped into his chair, the leather creaking softly as he leaned back with the easy familiarity of someone who’d claimed the space for years.
“Alright, Commander,” he started, tone far more casual than the briefing room had allowed. “Team lead to team lead—no brass, no salutes, no pretense.” He gestured loosely toward the second chair. “Figured it’s better we talk here.”
Aaron took the seat and crossed one leg over the other as he leaned back the little that the chair allowed. "We need to make sure the teams can work together and independently for whatever the job entails."
Not one for a lot of pretense himself, Aaron appreciated the freedom to speak without having to fall back on rank and procedure. Ideally, this openness could continue. "What I need to know from you is that we can disagree and debate and still get the job done. I've worked with a lot of good people and a lot of assholes. At the end of the day we all want the same thing; successful mission with zero incidents."
Raynor leaned back in his chair, arms folding loosely across his chest as one brow crept upward. The guy had wasted no time, straight to business. No small talk, no easing into it. He almost respected that. Almost.
“Well,” he started with a faint smirk, “glad to see we’re skipping the honeymoon phase and jumping straight into the marriage counseling.”
He tilted his head slightly, studying Aaron for a beat before continuing. “You’ll get no argument from me, Commander. I don’t need everyone to agree with me, just to pull their weight and not freeze when things get loud. You keep your people tight, I’ll keep mine sharp. We can figure out the rest in the field. In the end, I'll be in charge of the overall mission, but your team is your team.”
After a pause, he reached for the coffee mug on his desk, adding with a dry edge, “That said, if you are one of those assholes you mentioned, I prefer to know early. Saves me the trouble of guessing later.”
"No need to guess," Aaron replied with a shrug. "I'm Canadian, so even if I was an asshole I'd be a polite one."
"We have our orders and I don't see there being any problems with following them. We're on a bit of short notice with the first mission as I'd usually like to get to know a team before diving into the deep end, but that's not always an option." The Commander continued. "That being said, you're the veteran here so we're going to be deferring to your judgement on a lot more things than usual."
"We make it back from this one and we'll have our teams bond over barbeque and beach volley ball. They're not allowed back inside until they're one big happy family." Aaron gave only the slightest of grins to show he was joking.
Raynor leaned back in his chair, a low chuckle rumbling out as he raised his mug in mock salute. “Polite asshole, huh? I’ll give you points for honesty, most folks don’t advertise that up front.”
He took a sip of his coffee before setting it back down with a soft clink, smirking. “Figures you’re Canadian. That explains the diplomacy. Guess I’ll have to apologize on behalf of humanity for what’s about to happen when we’re knee-deep in sand and things start exploding.”
Leaning forward now, he rested his arms on the desk, tone still laced with sarcasm but with an undercurrent of respect. “But seriously, you’re right. Short notice or not, we make it work. You keep your side steady, I’ll handle mine, and between the two of us maybe we’ll come back without a stack of incident reports.”
"Sounds like a solid plan." Aaron replied. "I've had enough dealings with Go'auld technology so just let us know if you see something that looks like it was built by a worm. I'm all for SG2 being back up on this one and securing the gate and base camp, but we're not going to sit on our thumbs either. From the looks of it we have a pyramid to explore. We don't want to walk past something that'll bite us in the ass."
"That's it for me Colonel, and we still have time to get our party clothes on. If you're good we can do an unofficial debrief once we all get back." Aaron smiled a bit as he stood. "I've got a bottle from back home in my kit if it's going to be that kind of debrief as well."
"Call me John," the colonel replied as he stood up as well. "And I'll hold ya to it. Should be interesting little gathering."
Jonathon Raynor, Lt. Col
SG-1 Leader, SGC
&
Aaron Wander, Commander
SG-2 Leader, SGC
