Fic: 'Down Here Among the Wreckage', Part Three, 1/8
Title: Down Here Among the Wreckage
Author: Annerb
Summary: Five years ago, SG-1 broke in half. Two years ago, Earth lost. Today, there is one last chance to fix things. But sometimes the pieces just don’t fit back together again.
Warnings: Mature for language, violence, torture, non-con, adult themes, and some temporal meandering.
Categorization: AU, H/C, darkfic, tragedy, and apocafic for flavor. Team, Sam/Jack.
A/N: Special thanks to holdouttrout for the beta.
Part One-History
Part Two-Prodigal
Part Three-Reckoning
Prologue
Cam is running.
There’s a path of sorts ahead of him, but he’s not following it. Instead he’s darting in and out of the crumbled remains of what had once been concrete buildings and metal sheds, dodging mangled rebar and fallen trees, trying to be as small a target as possible.
There was a time this planet was known as Delta Site. A time a human population of about five hundred called this place home, or at least as close to home as an alien planet can be. Now there’s just rubble and a crazy lunatic running for his life.
Cam’s heartbeat is thudding away in his head, sweat trailing down his neck into his shirt, but the pounding he’s really worried about are the tromping footsteps behind him that refuse to slow. Something that can be said about Anubis’ drone soldiers is that they don’t tire. They just keep moving until they die.
Cam really hopes he isn’t about to find out what that feels like.
A blast smacks into a tree just to Cam’s right and he ducks left, ignoring the scent of ozone and charred wood as he sprints for the low cover offered by what had once been a school. Walls once filled with young voices and the hope of a future generation, only now charred out. There’s been nothing but silence since Anubis found Delta and snuffed it from existence.
Cam darts a reckless glance back over his shoulder, estimating exactly how much of a lead he has left. Not enough, he thinks, just as he finally catches sight of what he’s aiming for. Pumping his legs as hard as he can, he pours whatever last reserve he’s got left into crossing the distance.
“Now!” he bellows as he jumps the low wall, his shoulder slamming into the dirt as he hits the ground and rolls.
Kate Ortiz pops up next to him and he gets a brief impression of her face screwed up in determination as she hefts her gun. He thinks she may yell as she pulls the trigger, but then there’s a bright pulse of light and loud sound like an electric whine. Cam instinctively slaps his hands over his ears, squeezing his eyes shut. He’d probably bury his head too if there were a nice patch of sand handy.
He holds that position, waiting for the final blow, but as the seconds tick by, everything settles into stillness. Cracking one eye open, Cam looks up at Ortiz, still standing, staring off back in the direction he’d come from.
She looks a bit…stunned. But alive.
Alive is good.
“Did it work?” Cam asks, unfolding out of his protective posture, but not getting to his feet. Three years at the SGC taught him caution.
Ortiz lifts one hand to her hair, brushing back at dark strand that has escaped her ponytail. “I think…I think maybe it did.”
Just to be sure, Cam drags himself to his feet, peering suspiciously over the edge of the crumbled wall. The thing is sprawled on its back about thirty yards away, looking pretty damn dead. Gesturing for Ortiz to stay behind the cover offered by the wall, Cam cautiously approaches the polymer-clad, wannabe Darth Vader lying in the dirt. Stepping closer, he taps it with his foot. It jiggles a bit, but doesn’t protest or get up and kill him, so Cam kicks it again, a lot harder this time-mostly for fun. Only his toe doesn’t think it’s so fun.
Hopping on one foot, he twists back around to look at Ortiz, flashing her a grin. “Well spank me rosy,” he says. “That actually worked. Remind me to kiss McKay when we get back. I don’t care how ugly he is.”
Ortiz smiles, but her eyes are still on the soldier, and there’s no humor, only sorrow and something like confusion.
“Kate?” Cam asks.
She jerks a little, dragging her gaze from the soldier. “I thought…it would feel better,” she says, one shoulder lifting in a half-shrug. “More satisfying. Finally killing the thing that killed us.”
Kate Ortiz was barely a college grad when her family was first tapped to escape Earth. One among thousands set up on another planet to start a colony, to ensure the survival of the human race. She was one of only three to survive when Anubis’ drone showed up here. It was one of the first attacks by the new soldier and it had only taken one to completely wipe them out, taking a hell of a lot of the last vestiges of hope they’d represented.
She’s not a soldier, not really. Simply a woman put in a position where fighting may be all there is left. She’s put on the uniform, done the training, but she’s still an orphan looking for answers, finding only uncomfortable truths instead.
Revenge doesn’t fix anything. It doesn’t bring people back.
“No, it doesn’t. Not really,” Cam admits. “But I promise, standing on Earth again…that will feel better.”
She glances down at the weapon in her hands, as if finally considering the long-term implications of this tiny face off today.
They can finally fight back.
She smiles, and this time, it reaches her eyes.
Cam grabs his radio. “Hey, Charles,” he says into it. “Contact Reynolds. It works.”
A garbled shout-something like a yeehaw-filters back through. “Yes, sir!”
Cam rubs at his bruised shoulder, looking down at the drone. Now that the adrenaline is fading, he’s remembering that he promised McKay he’d bring the body of Mr. Doom and Gloom here back for study. He feels his smile slipping. “Remind me, how did we get stuck with this job again?”
Ortiz hefts the weapon on her shoulder. “We were the only two stupid enough to volunteer.”
“Right. Of course,” Cam says. “Lucky us.”
“Yeah,” Ortiz says, giving the drone a solid kick of her own. “Lucky us.”
Next: Steady Pull
Author: Annerb
Summary: Five years ago, SG-1 broke in half. Two years ago, Earth lost. Today, there is one last chance to fix things. But sometimes the pieces just don’t fit back together again.
Warnings: Mature for language, violence, torture, non-con, adult themes, and some temporal meandering.
Categorization: AU, H/C, darkfic, tragedy, and apocafic for flavor. Team, Sam/Jack.
A/N: Special thanks to holdouttrout for the beta.
Part One-History
Part Two-Prodigal
Part Three-Reckoning
Prologue
Cam is running.
There’s a path of sorts ahead of him, but he’s not following it. Instead he’s darting in and out of the crumbled remains of what had once been concrete buildings and metal sheds, dodging mangled rebar and fallen trees, trying to be as small a target as possible.
There was a time this planet was known as Delta Site. A time a human population of about five hundred called this place home, or at least as close to home as an alien planet can be. Now there’s just rubble and a crazy lunatic running for his life.
Cam’s heartbeat is thudding away in his head, sweat trailing down his neck into his shirt, but the pounding he’s really worried about are the tromping footsteps behind him that refuse to slow. Something that can be said about Anubis’ drone soldiers is that they don’t tire. They just keep moving until they die.
Cam really hopes he isn’t about to find out what that feels like.
A blast smacks into a tree just to Cam’s right and he ducks left, ignoring the scent of ozone and charred wood as he sprints for the low cover offered by what had once been a school. Walls once filled with young voices and the hope of a future generation, only now charred out. There’s been nothing but silence since Anubis found Delta and snuffed it from existence.
Cam darts a reckless glance back over his shoulder, estimating exactly how much of a lead he has left. Not enough, he thinks, just as he finally catches sight of what he’s aiming for. Pumping his legs as hard as he can, he pours whatever last reserve he’s got left into crossing the distance.
“Now!” he bellows as he jumps the low wall, his shoulder slamming into the dirt as he hits the ground and rolls.
Kate Ortiz pops up next to him and he gets a brief impression of her face screwed up in determination as she hefts her gun. He thinks she may yell as she pulls the trigger, but then there’s a bright pulse of light and loud sound like an electric whine. Cam instinctively slaps his hands over his ears, squeezing his eyes shut. He’d probably bury his head too if there were a nice patch of sand handy.
He holds that position, waiting for the final blow, but as the seconds tick by, everything settles into stillness. Cracking one eye open, Cam looks up at Ortiz, still standing, staring off back in the direction he’d come from.
She looks a bit…stunned. But alive.
Alive is good.
“Did it work?” Cam asks, unfolding out of his protective posture, but not getting to his feet. Three years at the SGC taught him caution.
Ortiz lifts one hand to her hair, brushing back at dark strand that has escaped her ponytail. “I think…I think maybe it did.”
Just to be sure, Cam drags himself to his feet, peering suspiciously over the edge of the crumbled wall. The thing is sprawled on its back about thirty yards away, looking pretty damn dead. Gesturing for Ortiz to stay behind the cover offered by the wall, Cam cautiously approaches the polymer-clad, wannabe Darth Vader lying in the dirt. Stepping closer, he taps it with his foot. It jiggles a bit, but doesn’t protest or get up and kill him, so Cam kicks it again, a lot harder this time-mostly for fun. Only his toe doesn’t think it’s so fun.
Hopping on one foot, he twists back around to look at Ortiz, flashing her a grin. “Well spank me rosy,” he says. “That actually worked. Remind me to kiss McKay when we get back. I don’t care how ugly he is.”
Ortiz smiles, but her eyes are still on the soldier, and there’s no humor, only sorrow and something like confusion.
“Kate?” Cam asks.
She jerks a little, dragging her gaze from the soldier. “I thought…it would feel better,” she says, one shoulder lifting in a half-shrug. “More satisfying. Finally killing the thing that killed us.”
Kate Ortiz was barely a college grad when her family was first tapped to escape Earth. One among thousands set up on another planet to start a colony, to ensure the survival of the human race. She was one of only three to survive when Anubis’ drone showed up here. It was one of the first attacks by the new soldier and it had only taken one to completely wipe them out, taking a hell of a lot of the last vestiges of hope they’d represented.
She’s not a soldier, not really. Simply a woman put in a position where fighting may be all there is left. She’s put on the uniform, done the training, but she’s still an orphan looking for answers, finding only uncomfortable truths instead.
Revenge doesn’t fix anything. It doesn’t bring people back.
“No, it doesn’t. Not really,” Cam admits. “But I promise, standing on Earth again…that will feel better.”
She glances down at the weapon in her hands, as if finally considering the long-term implications of this tiny face off today.
They can finally fight back.
She smiles, and this time, it reaches her eyes.
Cam grabs his radio. “Hey, Charles,” he says into it. “Contact Reynolds. It works.”
A garbled shout-something like a yeehaw-filters back through. “Yes, sir!”
Cam rubs at his bruised shoulder, looking down at the drone. Now that the adrenaline is fading, he’s remembering that he promised McKay he’d bring the body of Mr. Doom and Gloom here back for study. He feels his smile slipping. “Remind me, how did we get stuck with this job again?”
Ortiz hefts the weapon on her shoulder. “We were the only two stupid enough to volunteer.”
“Right. Of course,” Cam says. “Lucky us.”
“Yeah,” Ortiz says, giving the drone a solid kick of her own. “Lucky us.”
Next: Steady Pull