Radioman

Radioman is the first part in the Loaded March series. It was uploaded to Archive of Our Own on August 5, 2011. This part consists of 34,854 words.
Read it here .
==Summary==
The reason SAS Captain Arthur Pendragon can't keep a communications specialist in Team Excalibur is because none of them are good enough. And then Lieutenant Merlin Emrys gets assigned to his squad, and Arthur does everything he can to prove that Merlin isn't good enough, either. Except he is.
==Full Plot (Spoilers)==
The story begins on a battlefield, with one of the main characters, Arthur Pendragon, yelling at one of his soldiers. It gives us some background information on the character, as well as briefly introducing a few other members of Excalibur. The soldier in question, Roman, is their current communications specialist. This specialist is the only member of Excalibur who isn't part of their specially put together group. The opening scene is the first time we hear Excalibur's call sign of Knight. Arthur is Knight-1, Leon Cross is Knight-2, Lancelot DuLac is Knight-3, and Gwaine is Knight-4. After Roman gets himself pinned down in the field, Gwaine Taggart bets Perceval Dane he will be transferred out of their team two hours after they return to base, but it actually takes two weeks. 
The team celebrate Roman's departure in The Regency, which is the "unofficial off-base pre-R&R pub for the SAS squad".
The story continues to introduce the other main character Merlin Emrys. We see him moving from one base to another, and meeting the team medic, Lancelot. Lancelot shows Merlin around the compound, before leaving him to collect his supplies. Eventually, Merlin comes across Arthur yelling at some corporals about bad equipment. At the time, Merlin has no idea who Arthur is, and they end up in an argument. Merlin eventually finds out who Arthur is, and is very worried. 
The story progresses after that. We see Arthur bullying Merlin by giving him extra chores and a cold shoulder. We see Merlin gradually become accepted by all the members of Excalibur except for Arthur, who is determined not to let Merlin win him over.
Eventually, the team gets called out on a mission to rescue a team who are trapped in the Ravines after recovering an important unknown object. While there, they get caught in a sudden sandstorm and are forced to look for shelter.
As they are marching towards a cave, Arthur is distracted by a call for help. He believes he sees a small woman who seems to have come from nowhere. As he goes towards her, she ends up grabbing him in a vice-like grasp and hauls him up so he is dangling. She changes into a monster with black glowing eyes and sharp teeth. Then, something makes her let go, he slips down and almost falls into the ravine. Merlin is the one who ends up saving him, having used his magic, with Arthur noticing his golden eyes but thinking nothing of it at that time. At this point, they have lost the group. They argue and manage to find another cave to wait out the storm.
At the end of the chapter, Arthur ends up giving Merlin his red scarf, the symbol of team Excalibur, and unofficially accepts him as part of the team. 
==Quotes==
"No, sir," Emrys said, catching himself with surprising speed, "It's polite for 'I encountered the biggest prat in the whole of the Merry Old in the equipment tent, stopped him from making an arse out of himself, and got stuck with showing a pair of greenies and an overworked quartermaster how to properly maintain comm equipment for my trouble'. Sir." - Merlin to Arthur
"Nobody gets to insult you but me," Arthur said, his voice low. His eyes were measuring, almost considering, and Merlin felt a squeeze in his chest and a flutter in his belly that he knew he most assuredly should not be feeling. - Arthur to Merlin
"Now, now. There's plenty of me to go around," Merlin said, sounding so damned pleased about it that Arthur wanted to shake him a few times to tell him, that, no, no, under no circumstance was Merlin to even offer, because he was Arthur's and only Arthur's, and... Arthur grit his teeth, trying to force his treacherous thoughts out of his mind. When did Merlin get so firmly lodged under his skin? The worst of it was, he didn't even know if Merlin liked guys. - Merlin to Team Excalibur/Arthur
==Related Media==
===Fanart===
There is a deviantART group with fanart, graphics and artsy shenengians. Go have a look.
===Podfic===
Podfic for Radioman read by Charlaine2124 is available in WAV and MP3 format (links no longer work)
Another podfic, read by EchoDeltaNine available on AO3
And a third podfic, read by Trickster24 available on AO3
==Series Timeline==
Preceded By:	Followed By:
- 	War Games