Fic: Vampires, and Werewolves, and Wormholes, Oh My! (1/3)
So, a few months ago you possibly remember me yammering on and on about a SG-1/Twilight fusion where Jack is Bella, and Daniel is Edward, and everything is more than slightly ridiculous. Well, here it is!
Vampires, and Werewolves, and Wormholes, Oh My! - Stargate: SG-1 - Daniel Jackson/Jack O'Neill. Implied Sam Carter/Jonas Quinn and Vala Mal Doran/Cameron Mitchell - Words: 22,149
Written for stargate-summer Big Bang 2012.
Summary: Jack O'Neill has just been recalled to active duty and assigned to the Stargate Program. Taking the place of the legendary Jack O'Neil - with one "L" - is more difficult than he expected, particularly since he seems to have inherited his name doppelganger's former team. Although he first struggles to fit on the gloomy base nestled deep in Cheyenne Mountain, his only friend the Jaffa called Teal'c, he slowly discovers that there is much more going on than aliens and wormholes. And what is with that Daniel Jackson, the mysterious archeologist who will barely even look at Jack, let alone talk to him?
This story is a fusion between Stargate SG-1 and Twilight.
Content Notes: Semi-graphic violence and violent imagery. PG-13.
Author Notes: Thanks so much to the fantastic emeraldsnakes, who is my beta, my cheerleader and my voice of reason all rolled into one spectacular person who doesn't balk in the slightest when I say: "hey, so I'm writing a SG-1/Twilight fusion…"
Artwork! by sexycazzy
Artwork! by ninja-hamsters
On AO3: Vampires, and Werewolves, and Wormholes, Oh My!
On DW: Vampires, and Werewolves, and Wormholes, Oh My!
Jack O'Neill had heard a lot about the newly formed Stargate Program over the past week. The tale of Jack O'Neil - with one "L" - was legendary among the military members who'd been recruited and how he'd failed to return from the rescue mission but sent back an alien in his stead. Jack thought his name-double's death wasn't a particularly promising start to the whole endeavor, but who was he to judge? He'd seen pictures of the man and thankfully he looked nothing like this Jack O'Neil - with one "L".
So, here he was: one formerly retired lieutenant colonel with a duffle bag slung over his shoulder as he walked into Cheyenne Mountain for the first time.
"This had better be the shortest posting in the history of military postings. If they think I'm going to hang around in this underground city full of nut-cases, they've got another think coming," Jack said to himself as he folded his arms and ignored the handful of odd looks he was receiving. He was a lieutenant colonel, after all. He had earned the right to talk to himself in public.
Jack adjusted his bag, thinking unpleasant thoughts at pretty much every person he encountered. There was no reason to think that the dark haired woman standing with a clipboard and looking intent could possibly have a welcoming personality, or that the guards stationed in the hallway would look the other way if he had to sneak through to avoid a long and unpleasant briefing. They were probably all enamored with this traveling to new worlds, seeking out new life and possibly new civilizations, to boldly going … Well, and all that jazz. Personally, Jack was ready to be on a beach in Florida; content in spending the rest of his days with a strong drink and the rush of the tide.
His clearance got him all the way through to the General's office, to the very man who had dragged him to this drab and dreary military installation with the only phrase that would have roused him from his grim stupor: "We need men, Jack! Men!"
"George," Jack drawled, leaning in the General's doorway.
"Colonel O'Neill," General George Hammond said as he stood from behind his desk. "I hope the flight wasn't too terrible?"
There were many things Jack could say about the flight being terrible, that he wasn't piloting the plane was at the top of the list, but he was here as a favor. He would do this for George and try to complain as little as possible. Out loud, that was. "So, aliens?" Jack asked, aiming for sarcastic and only winding up somewhere around disbelieving.
"Yes, aliens," George replied, sounding slightly put out. "And now I'm responsible for this whole mess of a military installation. I've gone ahead and assigned you quarters in the mountain for the time being. You'll meet your team at the briefing tomorrow morning. In the mean time, just try to get a feel for the place. I'm sure you'll settle in. Now, if you don't mind, I have a special flight squadron coming in that I have to greet. We can have dinner another time."
"Sure thing," Jack said, already wondering about the 'special flight squadron' and what made them so special that George couldn't even spend the evening with him after he'd been dragged out of retirement and halfway across the country. Never mind. He was a lieutenant colonel - he could find his own way around.
"Oh, Jack," George called when Jack was halfway out into the hallway already.
Jack turned, keeping his grimace of impatience carefully hidden from the man for which he held at least a grudging respect.
"Try to make some friends. There are a lot of people here, I'm sure you'll get along with someone if you try," George said. "I hate to think of you wandering the mountain by yourself."
"I'll be fine," Jack promised, the smile that he was trying to make sincere coming out as a smirk instead. Close enough.
Twenty minutes later, after a brief stop at his assigned quarters, Jack was slumped in the mess hall with a glass dish of red jello in front of him and a scowl on his face. There was no other way to say it: Cheyenne Mountain, and the Stargate Program, sucked.
*****
The next morning, after a restless sleep in the confines of his bland quarters, Jack revised his previous opinion on the Stargate Program. It didn't just suck, it wasn't just going to be the usual military posting of alternating between mind-numbingly boredom and in-fear-for-your-life terror. The Stargate Program was going to be the death of him.
Jack stared at the four people gathered around the conference table. The first three were his new teammates - a female military officer with spunky, short blonde hair, a distracted male archeologist whose hair was longer than the female officer's, and a giant alien with no hair at all. Self consciously Jack reached up to pat his military regulation length hair that was just starting to turn gray. If he was going to be the normal hair guy on the team, he was going to do it right. Jack turned to the fourth person seated at the table and tried not to glare. The fourth person was, of course, George Hammond - the person who assigned him this team of weirdos in the first place.
"Your first mission is to explore a 'gate address recovered from the cartouche that Doctor Jackson discovered on Abydos. You leave tomorrow at 0800, any questions?" George asked, looking away when a pair of men in dress uniform arrived in the doorway.
"No, sir," Jack replied, though he didn't regain the attention of the General.
"Dismissed," George said absently as he rose to his feet and motioned to the uniformed men to follow him into his office. The door shut behind them, leaving Jack alone in the conference room with his new team.
Jack turned just in time to see the archeologist disappear out the other door, looking back only briefly to glare at Jack. The female officer was right behind him, stopping only on the edge of the room to address him as "sir" before following the archeologist from the room as well.
"Was it something I said?" Jack asked, not thrilled to discover that his team was apparently as enthusiastic about him as he was about them.
"But you did not say anything at all, O'Neill," the alien said, sounding somewhere between completely disinterested and completely puzzled.
Jack sighed. "Yeah, that's my point."
The alien blinked, a deep frown appearing briefly as he thought about what Jack had said and then apparently dismissed it entirely.
"Alright, what's your name again?" Jack asked, having missed it completely during the introductions.
"I am called Teal'c," the alien said. "It was a man with your name who released me from slavery to false gods and sacrificed his life to allow my escape. You look nothing like him."
Jack sighed. The Jack O'Neil - with one "L" - did look a lot more like a movie star than he did. Not a blockbuster movie star, but more of a ruffled science fiction and western movie star with a niche audience. Oh well, he supposed he couldn't have everything in life. "Well, Teal'c. Since the cool kids apparently don't want to hang out with us, have you ever watched The Simpsons?"
Teal'c stared, his face impassive. "What is a Simpsons?"
For the first time since stepping into Cheyenne Mountain, Jack smiled and meant it. "I have so much to teach you. Come on."
After a moment of hesitation Teal'c followed him from the room and back through the winding hallways of the base. "The other O'Neil told me there was much to learn from the Tau'ri. You will show me the ways of your people?"
Jack nodded. He could get behind teaching an alien all about Earth - at least the parts that involved desserts and television. "Let's start with a very important lesson. Are you ready?" Jack asked as he pressed the call button for the elevator.
Teal'c somehow straightened his posture even further. "I am prepared."
"Good television is always better with good snacks. Jello is a personal favorite, but the right balance of salty and sweet is a must. With time, you'll learn to balance the flavors just right," Jack said. The elevator doors opened and they both entered, Jack pressing the button that would take them to the floor with the mess hall.
"I do not understand," Teal'c said, his deep frown returning.
Jack manfully repressed a sigh. He had the feeling he was going to be hearing that a lot. "That's alright. We'll start with the basics, like ice cream and pretzels, and go from there." He stretched and wondered where his other two teammates had disappeared to, if they were off in a lab or office somewhere grumbling about their new team leader. It shouldn't have mattered, it didn't really, but there was something off about the pair of them that he couldn't explain. They'd only been in the same room with each other for minutes, but the way the archeologist was looking at him for a brief moment had been strange. Intense. Jack wasn't used to anyone looking at him like that.
"O'Neill, is this not the floor where we wish to disembark?" Teal'c asked.
Jack realized he'd been lost in his own thoughts, a tendency he'd gotten into during the months he'd been retired, and shook his head clear. "Come on, maybe they have pie. There is a lot to learn about pie."
"If you say it is so, O'Neill," Teal'c replied, faithfully following him from the elevator.
They wound up back in Jack's quarters, sitting on the end of the bed with plates of pie and a bag of potato chips Jack had managed to plead from the mess hall attendants. The DVD was set to continuous play of the episodes and while Teal'c watched in silence with a permanent expression of confusion, Jack sat back and thought while the images flickered in front of his eyes. They'd seen the military woman and the archeologist sitting together in the mess hall, along with a man and a woman that Jack didn't recognize at all. The archeologist had met Jack's eyes from across the room and taken a bite of the apple he was holding, watching Jack the entire time. At the moment Jack had thought the man disapproved of the whole chocolate pie Jack was clutching, but now, the stare seemed somehow more sinister.
"I'm not threatened by a long-haired, pale-skinned, geeky archeologist," Jack said, the words coming out as a low growl.
"I do not understand the connection," Teal'c said, looking up from the piece of pie he was skillfully dissecting.
Jack shook his head and waved Teal'c off. Whatever. At some point Teal'c would learn to let Jack muse out loud without interrupting him to ask for clarification.
"The woman with large blue hair, she is a skilled warrior," Teal'c observed.
Jack looked up at the screen and nodded. "Yeah, she is."
*****
Jack stared blankly at the electric blue puddle of water that was standing vertical and towering above him. They couldn't seriously be expecting him to touch this thing, could they? Nah. He looked back to find George waiting expectantly by the window, his arms folded as he and the other folks in the control area watched. Jack felt like a part of a guinea pig intelligence screening where the first rodents to voluntarily step into the electric current were obviously the stupidest ones.
"It's quite safe, sir," the female military officer said as she adjusted her green cap over her still perky blonde hair.
"Quite?" Jack repeated as he turned back to the Stargate.
"Oh, for hell's sake," the archeologist said from somewhere behind Jack.
Jack turned just in time to almost be run over by the archeologist. The man sneered and pulled his hand away from Jack like he thought he would burn if their skin touched. Before Jack could stop him, the man was stepping into the giant blue puddle and he didn't come back out.
The military woman followed without pause. Jack and Teal'c were the only ones left standing on the ramp.
"Any time now, colonel," George called over the intercom.
"Yeah, yeah. We're going," Jack grumbled. He supposed if the military wanted a way to kill him, this was as good as any. At least his death would be short and hopefully painless. "See you on the other side of the bright white light," Jack told Teal'c.
"The lights of the Chapa'ai are not white," Teal'c said, adjusting the large staff weapon he was carrying.
"Whatever," Jack said. He took a deep breath, gave himself a moment to mourn the fact that he'd never get to try every flavor of jello, and stepped into the light.
It took Jack a full minute to decide that he wasn't dead and that he just might prefer it if he was. That wasn't entirely true, there was jello and pie to look forward to after all, but the trip through the Stargate had left him feeling like he may never want to eat again. Or maybe just that he'd left his stomach back in Cheyenne Mountain and he was now, well, wherever he was.
The archeologist and the woman, Jack was really going to have to stop and learn their names at some point, were already standing at a distant ridge. This was going to be a long trip if they were determined to barely speak to him or look at him the entire time. And here he was supposed to be in charge.
"I believe Daniel Jackson and Captain Carter have located the local inhabitants of this world," Teal'c said. "Perhaps we should join them."
"Perhaps so," Jack said, his tone slightly mocking even as he took note of the names. At least now he knew the name of the archeologist who was so determined to avoid him. "It would have been nice if they'd waited. They must have sprinted fast in order to get that far ahead of us; that ridge is at least a mile off."
"Indeed," Teal'c said. He started down the rough path that led from the Stargate, leaving Jack scrambling to catch up.
Jack was panting ever so slightly when he climbed over the ridge to where his team was waiting for him, mentally composing a diatribe to George that he would never deliver, because he was going to be dead from exertion. "See new planets, meet aliens, save the world. You didn't mention anything about an exercise regimen from hell," he snapped as he approached the group.
"Sir?" Carter, the military woman, asked.
"Nothing!" Jack shouted. Couldn't anyone in this place let him talk to himself in peace?
Daniel Jackson, the archeologist, adjusted his glasses pointedly and then looked away.
Jack suddenly felt a little awkward at Daniel's glance. Shouting at his new teammates was not a great way to make a first impression. "Sorry. It's been a day," he said. "What do we have, down there?"
Carter tipped her head at him, one hand coming up to thoughtfully tug at the ends of her hair. "There's a village. They haven't observed us yet, though there are people keeping watch."
"Great," Jack said, suddenly realizing that he had no real idea of what he was doing with this whole damn Stargate Program to begin with. George hadn't exactly been clear about their goals, other than kill the freaky Goa'uld snake things and stay alive. While Jack could get behind simple goals and objectives, that did leave an awful lot that he didn't really know what to do with. Why couldn't someone have given him a guidebook - Exploring Alien Civilizations for Dummies. "Shall we go say hi?"
Daniel looked back and scowled. "Yeah, why don't we just go say hello, how you doing, what nice energy weapons you have, can we take a look?"
"Energy weapons?" Jack asked, walking over to near where Daniel was standing, but keeping enough distance that Daniel wouldn't stalk off or something.
Daniel sighed. "The two men at the village entrance have handheld energy weapons in their holsters. I've seen them before when I was on Abydos. Those weapons are a sure bet that there are Goa'uld in the village," he said slowly, as if he was explaining a very simple concept to an inattentive child.
"Great. So, we go liberate the village from Goa'uld oppression?" Jack asked.
"That would be most unwise," Teal'c said, having silently come up behind Jack. "To alert them to our presence would not only bring our death, but the deaths of the human villagers as well. We should return to your home-world and report the situation."
Jack stared at his team, seriously confused as to what was going on. "So, we came all this way to see if they were Goa'uld, and now that we know that there are Goa'uld, we're going home? Seriously?"
"That's what we're supposed to do, sir. I'd say that we only have a little while longer before we're noticed here, especially if we don't get back on the other side of the ridge," Carter said, adjusting her cap as she looked down at the village. "Too late, one of their sentries looked up. We need to go now."
"How can you even know that?" Jack asked as he leaned forward to squint down at the village. He could barely make out the people there and Carter hadn't been using binoculars or anything.
"We need to go, now," Daniel repeated, starting back down the ridge the way they'd come.
"Hey!" Jack shouted, deciding he didn't give a damn about first impressions on a mission. "I give the orders around here! You don't get to make that call."
Carter and Teal'c stayed put even though Daniel didn't turn back.
"We should leave, the longer we stay here the worse it will become," Carter said, her tone growing more urgent. "Sir."
"If the Goa'uld are aware of our presence, a retreat is the strategic option," Teal'c added.
Jack sighed. "Fine, whatever. Let's go. But I don't know why we came out here in the first place. Stupid field trip of a mission."
Carter raised her eyebrows briefly before bounding after Daniel, her movements lithe and graceful. Jack watched their descent for a moment, deciding that he had a pair of mountain goats on his team instead of people, and then followed with Teal'c bringing up the back.
The already overcast skies opened up and rain started to pour down on them, leaving Jack dripping in mere moments. "Perfect. Just perfect."
*****
The following day, when Jack was wearing dry clothes and had a few hours to recover from the shock of being shot at by aliens, he sought out Daniel Jackson. Cheyenne Mountain was a fairly big base, considering it was inside a mountain, but it was still an enclosed space that should theoretically be difficult to disappear within. Jack had already checked with the front guard and his wayward archeologist had stayed the night in the mountain. He'd looked in all the public gathering areas he could think of, discovered that Carter had a lab - though it was empty - and was now tracking down Daniel's office.
Interestingly enough, Daniel Jackson was listed as having an office, but there was no phone extension or floor and room number on the roster. After an hour of searching, Jack decided that his guess and check method wasn't working and did what he did best: he went back to the mess hall, got a bowl of chocolate pudding, and settled in to wait. The man would have to get hungry and surface at some point.
Four cups of coffee, two bowls of pudding, and a slice of apple pie later, Daniel Jackson entered the mess hall. His long hair was wild, like he'd forgotten it was there, and his expression suggested that he hadn't slept in a day or two. Somehow, beneath the unkempt surface appearance, Jack could see that Daniel was actually a very attractive man. He had a strong jaw and keen blue eyes, eyes that were now piercing Jack with what almost felt like icy bolts being struck through his chest. For a moment Jack wondered if this was what it was like to be hit with one of those energy weapons, all of his senses pushed through beyond their natural limits as he sat frozen and stunned.
Jack stared helplessly as Daniel walked towards him, truly acknowledging Jack for the first time. Daniel sat down across from him, his hands folded neatly on the surface of the table as he considered Jack.
"Why hello, Jack? Do you mind if I sit here?" Jack asked, pitching his voice higher in a bad impersonation of Daniel's voice. "Not at all. Why don't you get yourself a cup of coffee and a slice of pie and stay a while?" Jack continued in his normal tone.
"Uh huh," Daniel said slowly, watching Jack like someone might watch a small animal doing something moderately amusing.
"We need to talk," Jack said when it was clear that Daniel wasn't going to continue with anything more enlightening.
One of Daniel's eyebrows arched in wordless question.
Jack sighed and used his fork to trace idle patterns in the leftover crumbs on his plate. "What happened yesterday, that can't happen again," he said, any traces of humor or mockery gone from his voice. Jack hated being serious, he hated having to care about something enough to take it seriously, but when it came to his team not dying, he cared. Even though he wasn't sure he could even stand to be in the same room as his teammates, they were now his responsibility.
"Well, Jack, if you're that unnerved by aliens with energy weapons, perhaps you should ask to be reassigned to a less dangerous posting?" Daniel asked.
Jack bristled at the sarcasm in Daniel's voice. He'd flown dangerous missions, nearly died a dozen times over in the line of duty and fought in more battles than he cared to remember. He wasn't unnerved by being shot at by aliens - well, only a little bit, because of the alien part - but he was unnerved by nearly losing a member of his team. "I don't care about aliens shooting at us. The way I figure it, that will probably be our standard reception. However, when they started shooting, you were no where in sight."
Daniel shrugged. "I was back at the 'gate. I would have came back if you'd needed help. You were all nearly there anyway."
"That's not the point," Jack said, almost growling.
"Are you going to tell me the point?" Daniel asked, not having lost his flippant tone. "Because, usually that statement is more effective when it's followed by the point you're trying to make."
"My point is that I'm in command of the team, you obey my orders, you do what I tell you," Jack said, the muscles in his forearms showing as he clenched the fork in his hand. "You don't go running off by yourself, so that when you're shot or kidnapped, I'll know about it. Understood?"
Daniel smirked. "Not so much. I have a job to do, so do you. As far as I figure, you do yours and I'll do mine, and we can stay out of each others way. It's better like that."
Jack shook his head. "Not happening. There's only one person in charge, and that's me."
"Yeah, no," Daniel said.
"Yeah, yes," Jack countered and then softened. "Look, I get it. I'm the big dumb jock, I probably look the same as the ones that tormented you and your geeky friends all throughout high school. You don't like me and you don't trust me. But I'm telling you, I've got your back. We're team."
"We're all in this together?" Daniel added with an unbecoming snort.
"Yes," Jack said firmly. "You're my team, which means if someone is bothering you, I'll take care of it."
Daniel laughed, his open palm slapping against the table, and then stood. "You've got it all backwards, Jack. I'm not afraid of you. You, on the other hand, should be afraid of me." It was the first non-sarcastic thing Daniel had said to him.
"Is that a threat?" Jack asked incredulously as he looked the skinny archeologist up and down. While certainly attractive, there was no way he could take Jack in a fight, even if Jack wasn't military trained.
"It's a warning," Daniel said, taking a step back without looking away from Jack. "And you'd be wise to heed it. Stay away from me."
Jack stared, his mouth hanging open as he watched Daniel move swiftly from the mess hall. That was not at all how'd he'd envisioned that conversation. He'd pictured Daniel ducking his head contritely and promising to give Jack a chance to prove he wasn't a bad guy despite his brawny exterior. Instead, Jack had been threatened - he could clearly hear the threat no matter what Daniel had called it - and then effortlessly dismissed.
With his brilliant and well thought out plan laid to waste, Jack thoughtfully examined the crop circle pattern he'd etched in his pie crust crumbs. "Well, any bright ideas?" he asked himself, pausing to glare at a passing airman who was staring wide-eyed with confusion.
Thoroughly regretting the forth cup of coffee, and possibly the second bowl of pudding, Jack pushed himself to his feet and went off to look for his alien friend. Even if Teal'c wouldn't have any words of wisdom for him, at least he wouldn't act like Jack had a social disease either.
*****
The battle was nearly over by the time Jack realized they were under attack. It was their fourth mission off-world and he was starting to wonder exactly how many dense and dark forests that were practically devoid of intelligent life they were going to have to walk through. Turned out that this particular forest wasn't devoid of people, and it just so happened the civilizations weren't really pleased to have them traipsing around their territory. Who knew?
Jack hit the forest floor hard, narrowly avoiding hitting a particularly vicious looking tree root as he dodged the alien projectile that had come directly by his head. As he rolled to the side, pulling his firearm out of its holster as he went, his first thought was for his team. He knew that Teal'c, the alien warrior who could lift weights like nothing Jack had ever seen, was battle ready, and Captain Carter damn well better be able to hold her own in a firefight if she was in the USAF, but Jack suddenly realized that he had no idea about the defensive capabilities of his frequently missing archeologist.
From his vantage point on the ground Jack couldn't see much except for the odd looking elongated bullets that were still being fired in their direction and his team was scattered somewhere in the thick foliage. For all Jack knew they could be a few feet away from him and taking cover behind a thick tree trunk or under the huge leaves of the shrub to his immediate left. "Daniel," Jack called, with his voice pitched low in a feeble attempt to not give away his own position.
There was no response and Jack's mind was filled with images of Daniel laying somewhere nearby, injured or dying, or already dead. "Jackson!" he called, a little bit louder this time. Another volley from the natives drowned out the answer, if there had been one at all, and Jack crawled to where he might have a chance of seeing who was firing at them. When he reached a reasonably sheltered place, Jack slowly moved up against the tree trunk and peered around to find a group of seven or eight people who were dressed in jungle-style attire that might have fit right in to a cheesy movie from the 70's. They had weapons that looked almost like a crossbow had bred with a machine gun. The rapid fire had stopped, but they were still aiming in the general direction of where the team had last been.
Jack barely spotted Carter out of the corner of his eye as she moved forward to a defensive position and was in just the right place to see one of the natives see her and aim his weapon. "Carter down!" he shouted, watching just long enough to see her take cover. He dropped down behind the tree, feeling the entire trunk shudder as projectiles hit it a moment later. The sounds of Carter's P-90 and a staff weapon filled the air as his team returned fire. Jack was just moving around the other side of the tree, staying as low as he could while still prepared to shoot, when he was tackled roughly to the ground.
A second later the air filled with weapons fire again. Jack stared up at Daniel Jackson, who'd managed to lose his floppy hat in all the confusion, and tried to make sense of what had just happened. It was easy enough to understand; Daniel had just saved his life, had pushed him out of the way of a bullet. Any soldier would recognize this act, but Daniel was no soldier.
"Say down," Daniel instructed, sounding just as irritated with Jack as he usually did.
"Like hell," Jack replied when Daniel got off him, but by the time Jack had rolled over Daniel was already gone back into the forest. The time seemed to pass in the space of a few heartbeats, but the weapons fire ceased along with the sounds of the natives making a quick retreat, and when Jack peered around the edge of a different tree trunk there were no native warriors to be seen.
Carter and Daniel were the first to come down into the small clearing, with Teal'c a moment behind them. Jack's quick eyes ran over the forest again, waiting for an ambush, but none came. He untangled his boots from a vine that would have tripped him up if he'd had to scramble for safety and joined the rest of his team.
"Nice job," Jack said, impressed and confused all at once. It was good to know that his team could all handle themselves, even his archeologist, but he hadn't even managed to do much more than take cover and keep himself from getting shot.
Daniel actually smiled and Jack was stunned by how much the expression changed his appearance. Daniel looked good before, but when he smiled and meant it he became almost ethereal. "I think we can mark this planet off as hostile, regardless of Goa'uld occupation status," he said, brushing a long strand of hair away from his eyes.
"Ya think?" Jack asked, finding himself returning the smile. He turned around in the forest, searching for his bearings. "Does anyone remember where we parked?"
"The Chapa'ai is this direction, O'Neill," Teal'c said, direction his staff weapon back through the mess of debris that was created by their battle.
"Nice one, T," Jack complimented. He'd only taught Teal'c the phrase about 'where did we park' a few days earlier, but it seemed to have stuck.
They walked in silence for a while and Jack fell back so that he was walking well behind Daniel and Teal'c. "Nice duck and cover there, Carter," he said, interesting in gauging her reaction. He'd never seen Carter anything but unflappably collected. Urgent or irritated, sure, but even under those circumstances she always projected an aura of calm and control.
Carter looked back and adjusted her hat. Other than the dirt smudges on her jacket and pants she could have just walked out of a military fashion show - if they actually had such a thing. "You saved me from getting shot, I think you can call me Sam, sir."
"Sam then," Jack said. He knew that a lot of teams wound up dropping the formalities of ranks and 'sirs', the close bonds created by combat and continuous danger overriding their military programing. "You can call me Jack, or O'Neill, or whatever. You know. when we're not around the General and all that."
Carter - Sam - smiled, and Jack realized he'd never really seen her do that until now either. Apparently there was just something about being shot at that put his team in a really good mood. "We'll see," she said, but there was a playful amusement in her voice that told him that she'd at least started to accept him as a team leader.
Despite the firefight and the few close calls, Jack thought this was probably their best mission yet. Now if only he could stop thinking about that moment where Daniel had pinned him to the ground and looked down into his eyes. Jack lapsed into a contemplative silence, wondering exactly what it would take to get his team to agree to a round of practice sparring when they were back on base.
*****
After a slow morning spent first in a briefing about Goa'uld activities near their allies - it was news to Jack that they actually had allies in the galaxy - and then working out with Teal'c in the gym to attempt to ease the boredom, it was finally time for lunch. The day had felt particularly grim and even though Jack hadn't been out of the mountain to see the storm coming in he'd heard about from the morning weather report he could feel it in the air. Everything felt slow and stifling, like there wasn't enough air to draw a full breath, and Jack was relieved to be able to sit for a while and focus only on what he was eating. It was the simple things in life that made it worth it he had slowly come to decide: eating, fishing, sleeping, and kicking back with his feet up. The occasionally rush of adrenaline didn't hurt either, just as a reminder of why those simple things were so good.
Jack made it a point to go before Teal'c through the food line. The man, and his muscles, were massive and Jack had seen first hand just how much food he could consume in a single sitting. He'd just finished picking his dessert, pumpkin pie with whipped cream that should go quite nicely with a second cup of coffee at the end of his meal, when he heard his name being called. His name was called again, a little louder this time, then followed by a call for Teal'c. Turning, he found Sam Carter standing next to a table with a bright grin on her face as she waved them over.
"Looks like we're being invited to the popular table," Jack said as he eyed Daniel and the two people he'd seen them eating with several times in the mess hall. Daniel didn't seem particularly enthused about Sam inviting other people to sit with them, or maybe he just wasn't happy about Jack being invited, but the other two were looking over curiously. "What do you say?"
"I have told that it is impolite to refuse a request for a communal dining arrangement," Teal'c said.
Jack thought that he was going to have to teach Teal'c a few more things about Earth before anyone got the idea that Teal'c might be dateable. "Let's go then," Jack said and started across the mess hall. It wasn't really about being polite so much as it was about perturbing Daniel. Daniel had made a fairly concerted effort to avoid Jack when it was at all possible and Jack was enjoying placing himself in the man's presence just to be contrary.
"It's good to see you, sir," Sam said as she moved a laptop off the end of the table so that Jack and Teal'c would have a place to sit. "I almost thought they'd keep you in that briefing forever."
"Me too," Jack said earnestly as he sat next to Sam and smiled in return. Sam had warmed up to him a lot ever since he'd saved her from being shot two days previous, though Daniel had immediately returned to responding to Jack with derisive and cutting criticism. Even now Daniel was sulkily focused on the cup of coffee he had wrapped his hands around.
"Jack, this is Janet Fraiser, she's the chief medical officer in Cheyenne Mountain," Sam said, motioning to the smaller blonde woman that was sitting next to Daniel.
Janet smiled, assessing Jack with a quick glance, and twirled a long piece of pasta on the end of her fork. "I'm sure I would have met you eventually, Colonel O'Neill. Probably sooner than later, given what Sam and Daniel have told me about your last mission."
Jack suppressed a shudder. Somehow military medical staff always sent him running in the opposite direction - usually because he wanted to be doing something that they would order him not to if they managed to catch him. "I'm sure you would," he said, reminding himself that he'd probably wind up under Janet's care at some point in the future so he should at least try to be polite.
"And this is Jonas Quinn. He's from off-world and he's only been here a few months, not quite as long as Teal'c," Sam said, introducing the man sitting on her other side.
Jack leaned forward and peered over at the other off-worlder. Jonas didn't look anything like Teal'c. Where Teal'c was broad, muscular and bald, Jonas was slender with ruffled brown hair. "Nice to meet you," Jack said, hoping the man understood English as well as Teal'c did. "Where are you from?"
Jonas looked down, his fingers tracing the long lines of the banana he was holding. "My home world was called Langara," he said quietly.
It took Jack a moment before he caught the was and realized that Jonas was probably with them because he no longer had his own planet.
"One day the Goa'uld will pay for all the worlds they have ravaged and destroyed and for all the lives they have taken. They will no longer hold sway over the galaxy when we have successfully liberated ourselves," Teal'c said, the words quiet but firm.
Jonas looked up at Teal'c, his eyes wide with surprise and his skin even paler, if that was possible. "We will avenge all we have lost," he replied, and Jack was forced to revise his impression of the man from a trembling scientist to a force to be reckoned with.
Now that the conversation was sufficiently awkward Jack turned back to his meal and dug in with gusto. He was hyper aware of Daniel's presence, even though the man hadn't looked up once during the entire exchange. What was it about this guy that he couldn't even look in Jack's direction? Jack couldn't think of anything offensive, or even rude, that he'd ever said to Daniel. He hadn't even suggested that he leave Daniel behind on a planet, not that Jack would, even if he'd half-heartedly thought about it every now and again. Daniel seemed to get along fine with Sam, and even with Teal'c when Jack was far enough away. Jack had seen Daniel talk with other scientists, with Janet and Jonas, and even with George Hammond on one occasion, which left Jack with the odd realization that it was just him Daniel was avoiding.
"It's raining now," Jonas said suddenly, his head tipped back as he looked at the ceiling with a serene expression.
Jack frowned. It was forecasted to rain that day, but for all he knew the rain had started hours ago or hadn't even started yet. There was no way to tell this deep inside the mountain.
Jonas closed his eyes but kept his head tipped back. "I can feel it in the air, almost like an electric current running along my skin. I can smell it."
Jack looked around the table, expecting expressions of incredulity, or at least covert glances that meant that the kid was crazy, but instead found everyone - even Daniel - watching Jonas intently.
"It's okay, it's just a minor storm. We can go up and see it if you want," Daniel said, his voice surprisingly soft and kind.
"I can get us clearance," Sam offered.
Jonas shook his head and took an uneven breath. "I don't want to see the rain here yet, but I can't get far enough away that I wouldn't be able to hear it."
The table cleared out pretty quickly after that. Sam, Daniel and Janet all hustled Jonas away, Sam looking back to tell Jack and Teal'c that she'd see them around the base.
"Maybe his people have like, super sonic hearing or something?" Jack asked, stabbing his fork deeper into his bowl of spaghetti to mask his discomfort.
"Perhaps that is so, O'Neill. But perhaps he simply misses his home," Teal'c said before he occupied himself with his meal.
Jack nodded to himself and finished his meal and his dessert, even though neither were as enjoyable as he'd been anticipating. When he finished he excused himself while Teal'c went back for seconds. The elevator ride to the surface was slow enough that it wasn't ear popping, but when the doors opened Jack could hear the rain pounding down on the surface of the road.
"How long ago did the rain start?" he asked one of the guards on duty.
"Approximately twenty minutes ago, sir," the guard replied.
Jack stared out, breathing in the damp air and wondering what it would be like to never smell the rain on his own planet again. It wasn't something he wanted to find out.
*****
Next: Vampires, and Werewolves, and Wormholes, Oh My! (1/3)
Vampires, and Werewolves, and Wormholes, Oh My! - Stargate: SG-1 - Daniel Jackson/Jack O'Neill. Implied Sam Carter/Jonas Quinn and Vala Mal Doran/Cameron Mitchell - Words: 22,149
Written for stargate-summer Big Bang 2012.
Summary: Jack O'Neill has just been recalled to active duty and assigned to the Stargate Program. Taking the place of the legendary Jack O'Neil - with one "L" - is more difficult than he expected, particularly since he seems to have inherited his name doppelganger's former team. Although he first struggles to fit on the gloomy base nestled deep in Cheyenne Mountain, his only friend the Jaffa called Teal'c, he slowly discovers that there is much more going on than aliens and wormholes. And what is with that Daniel Jackson, the mysterious archeologist who will barely even look at Jack, let alone talk to him?
This story is a fusion between Stargate SG-1 and Twilight.
Content Notes: Semi-graphic violence and violent imagery. PG-13.
Author Notes: Thanks so much to the fantastic emeraldsnakes, who is my beta, my cheerleader and my voice of reason all rolled into one spectacular person who doesn't balk in the slightest when I say: "hey, so I'm writing a SG-1/Twilight fusion…"
Artwork! by sexycazzy
Artwork! by ninja-hamsters
On AO3: Vampires, and Werewolves, and Wormholes, Oh My!
On DW: Vampires, and Werewolves, and Wormholes, Oh My!
Jack O'Neill had heard a lot about the newly formed Stargate Program over the past week. The tale of Jack O'Neil - with one "L" - was legendary among the military members who'd been recruited and how he'd failed to return from the rescue mission but sent back an alien in his stead. Jack thought his name-double's death wasn't a particularly promising start to the whole endeavor, but who was he to judge? He'd seen pictures of the man and thankfully he looked nothing like this Jack O'Neil - with one "L".
So, here he was: one formerly retired lieutenant colonel with a duffle bag slung over his shoulder as he walked into Cheyenne Mountain for the first time.
"This had better be the shortest posting in the history of military postings. If they think I'm going to hang around in this underground city full of nut-cases, they've got another think coming," Jack said to himself as he folded his arms and ignored the handful of odd looks he was receiving. He was a lieutenant colonel, after all. He had earned the right to talk to himself in public.
Jack adjusted his bag, thinking unpleasant thoughts at pretty much every person he encountered. There was no reason to think that the dark haired woman standing with a clipboard and looking intent could possibly have a welcoming personality, or that the guards stationed in the hallway would look the other way if he had to sneak through to avoid a long and unpleasant briefing. They were probably all enamored with this traveling to new worlds, seeking out new life and possibly new civilizations, to boldly going … Well, and all that jazz. Personally, Jack was ready to be on a beach in Florida; content in spending the rest of his days with a strong drink and the rush of the tide.
His clearance got him all the way through to the General's office, to the very man who had dragged him to this drab and dreary military installation with the only phrase that would have roused him from his grim stupor: "We need men, Jack! Men!"
"George," Jack drawled, leaning in the General's doorway.
"Colonel O'Neill," General George Hammond said as he stood from behind his desk. "I hope the flight wasn't too terrible?"
There were many things Jack could say about the flight being terrible, that he wasn't piloting the plane was at the top of the list, but he was here as a favor. He would do this for George and try to complain as little as possible. Out loud, that was. "So, aliens?" Jack asked, aiming for sarcastic and only winding up somewhere around disbelieving.
"Yes, aliens," George replied, sounding slightly put out. "And now I'm responsible for this whole mess of a military installation. I've gone ahead and assigned you quarters in the mountain for the time being. You'll meet your team at the briefing tomorrow morning. In the mean time, just try to get a feel for the place. I'm sure you'll settle in. Now, if you don't mind, I have a special flight squadron coming in that I have to greet. We can have dinner another time."
"Sure thing," Jack said, already wondering about the 'special flight squadron' and what made them so special that George couldn't even spend the evening with him after he'd been dragged out of retirement and halfway across the country. Never mind. He was a lieutenant colonel - he could find his own way around.
"Oh, Jack," George called when Jack was halfway out into the hallway already.
Jack turned, keeping his grimace of impatience carefully hidden from the man for which he held at least a grudging respect.
"Try to make some friends. There are a lot of people here, I'm sure you'll get along with someone if you try," George said. "I hate to think of you wandering the mountain by yourself."
"I'll be fine," Jack promised, the smile that he was trying to make sincere coming out as a smirk instead. Close enough.
Twenty minutes later, after a brief stop at his assigned quarters, Jack was slumped in the mess hall with a glass dish of red jello in front of him and a scowl on his face. There was no other way to say it: Cheyenne Mountain, and the Stargate Program, sucked.
*****
The next morning, after a restless sleep in the confines of his bland quarters, Jack revised his previous opinion on the Stargate Program. It didn't just suck, it wasn't just going to be the usual military posting of alternating between mind-numbingly boredom and in-fear-for-your-life terror. The Stargate Program was going to be the death of him.
Jack stared at the four people gathered around the conference table. The first three were his new teammates - a female military officer with spunky, short blonde hair, a distracted male archeologist whose hair was longer than the female officer's, and a giant alien with no hair at all. Self consciously Jack reached up to pat his military regulation length hair that was just starting to turn gray. If he was going to be the normal hair guy on the team, he was going to do it right. Jack turned to the fourth person seated at the table and tried not to glare. The fourth person was, of course, George Hammond - the person who assigned him this team of weirdos in the first place.
"Your first mission is to explore a 'gate address recovered from the cartouche that Doctor Jackson discovered on Abydos. You leave tomorrow at 0800, any questions?" George asked, looking away when a pair of men in dress uniform arrived in the doorway.
"No, sir," Jack replied, though he didn't regain the attention of the General.
"Dismissed," George said absently as he rose to his feet and motioned to the uniformed men to follow him into his office. The door shut behind them, leaving Jack alone in the conference room with his new team.
Jack turned just in time to see the archeologist disappear out the other door, looking back only briefly to glare at Jack. The female officer was right behind him, stopping only on the edge of the room to address him as "sir" before following the archeologist from the room as well.
"Was it something I said?" Jack asked, not thrilled to discover that his team was apparently as enthusiastic about him as he was about them.
"But you did not say anything at all, O'Neill," the alien said, sounding somewhere between completely disinterested and completely puzzled.
Jack sighed. "Yeah, that's my point."
The alien blinked, a deep frown appearing briefly as he thought about what Jack had said and then apparently dismissed it entirely.
"Alright, what's your name again?" Jack asked, having missed it completely during the introductions.
"I am called Teal'c," the alien said. "It was a man with your name who released me from slavery to false gods and sacrificed his life to allow my escape. You look nothing like him."
Jack sighed. The Jack O'Neil - with one "L" - did look a lot more like a movie star than he did. Not a blockbuster movie star, but more of a ruffled science fiction and western movie star with a niche audience. Oh well, he supposed he couldn't have everything in life. "Well, Teal'c. Since the cool kids apparently don't want to hang out with us, have you ever watched The Simpsons?"
Teal'c stared, his face impassive. "What is a Simpsons?"
For the first time since stepping into Cheyenne Mountain, Jack smiled and meant it. "I have so much to teach you. Come on."
After a moment of hesitation Teal'c followed him from the room and back through the winding hallways of the base. "The other O'Neil told me there was much to learn from the Tau'ri. You will show me the ways of your people?"
Jack nodded. He could get behind teaching an alien all about Earth - at least the parts that involved desserts and television. "Let's start with a very important lesson. Are you ready?" Jack asked as he pressed the call button for the elevator.
Teal'c somehow straightened his posture even further. "I am prepared."
"Good television is always better with good snacks. Jello is a personal favorite, but the right balance of salty and sweet is a must. With time, you'll learn to balance the flavors just right," Jack said. The elevator doors opened and they both entered, Jack pressing the button that would take them to the floor with the mess hall.
"I do not understand," Teal'c said, his deep frown returning.
Jack manfully repressed a sigh. He had the feeling he was going to be hearing that a lot. "That's alright. We'll start with the basics, like ice cream and pretzels, and go from there." He stretched and wondered where his other two teammates had disappeared to, if they were off in a lab or office somewhere grumbling about their new team leader. It shouldn't have mattered, it didn't really, but there was something off about the pair of them that he couldn't explain. They'd only been in the same room with each other for minutes, but the way the archeologist was looking at him for a brief moment had been strange. Intense. Jack wasn't used to anyone looking at him like that.
"O'Neill, is this not the floor where we wish to disembark?" Teal'c asked.
Jack realized he'd been lost in his own thoughts, a tendency he'd gotten into during the months he'd been retired, and shook his head clear. "Come on, maybe they have pie. There is a lot to learn about pie."
"If you say it is so, O'Neill," Teal'c replied, faithfully following him from the elevator.
They wound up back in Jack's quarters, sitting on the end of the bed with plates of pie and a bag of potato chips Jack had managed to plead from the mess hall attendants. The DVD was set to continuous play of the episodes and while Teal'c watched in silence with a permanent expression of confusion, Jack sat back and thought while the images flickered in front of his eyes. They'd seen the military woman and the archeologist sitting together in the mess hall, along with a man and a woman that Jack didn't recognize at all. The archeologist had met Jack's eyes from across the room and taken a bite of the apple he was holding, watching Jack the entire time. At the moment Jack had thought the man disapproved of the whole chocolate pie Jack was clutching, but now, the stare seemed somehow more sinister.
"I'm not threatened by a long-haired, pale-skinned, geeky archeologist," Jack said, the words coming out as a low growl.
"I do not understand the connection," Teal'c said, looking up from the piece of pie he was skillfully dissecting.
Jack shook his head and waved Teal'c off. Whatever. At some point Teal'c would learn to let Jack muse out loud without interrupting him to ask for clarification.
"The woman with large blue hair, she is a skilled warrior," Teal'c observed.
Jack looked up at the screen and nodded. "Yeah, she is."
*****
Jack stared blankly at the electric blue puddle of water that was standing vertical and towering above him. They couldn't seriously be expecting him to touch this thing, could they? Nah. He looked back to find George waiting expectantly by the window, his arms folded as he and the other folks in the control area watched. Jack felt like a part of a guinea pig intelligence screening where the first rodents to voluntarily step into the electric current were obviously the stupidest ones.
"It's quite safe, sir," the female military officer said as she adjusted her green cap over her still perky blonde hair.
"Quite?" Jack repeated as he turned back to the Stargate.
"Oh, for hell's sake," the archeologist said from somewhere behind Jack.
Jack turned just in time to almost be run over by the archeologist. The man sneered and pulled his hand away from Jack like he thought he would burn if their skin touched. Before Jack could stop him, the man was stepping into the giant blue puddle and he didn't come back out.
The military woman followed without pause. Jack and Teal'c were the only ones left standing on the ramp.
"Any time now, colonel," George called over the intercom.
"Yeah, yeah. We're going," Jack grumbled. He supposed if the military wanted a way to kill him, this was as good as any. At least his death would be short and hopefully painless. "See you on the other side of the bright white light," Jack told Teal'c.
"The lights of the Chapa'ai are not white," Teal'c said, adjusting the large staff weapon he was carrying.
"Whatever," Jack said. He took a deep breath, gave himself a moment to mourn the fact that he'd never get to try every flavor of jello, and stepped into the light.
It took Jack a full minute to decide that he wasn't dead and that he just might prefer it if he was. That wasn't entirely true, there was jello and pie to look forward to after all, but the trip through the Stargate had left him feeling like he may never want to eat again. Or maybe just that he'd left his stomach back in Cheyenne Mountain and he was now, well, wherever he was.
The archeologist and the woman, Jack was really going to have to stop and learn their names at some point, were already standing at a distant ridge. This was going to be a long trip if they were determined to barely speak to him or look at him the entire time. And here he was supposed to be in charge.
"I believe Daniel Jackson and Captain Carter have located the local inhabitants of this world," Teal'c said. "Perhaps we should join them."
"Perhaps so," Jack said, his tone slightly mocking even as he took note of the names. At least now he knew the name of the archeologist who was so determined to avoid him. "It would have been nice if they'd waited. They must have sprinted fast in order to get that far ahead of us; that ridge is at least a mile off."
"Indeed," Teal'c said. He started down the rough path that led from the Stargate, leaving Jack scrambling to catch up.
Jack was panting ever so slightly when he climbed over the ridge to where his team was waiting for him, mentally composing a diatribe to George that he would never deliver, because he was going to be dead from exertion. "See new planets, meet aliens, save the world. You didn't mention anything about an exercise regimen from hell," he snapped as he approached the group.
"Sir?" Carter, the military woman, asked.
"Nothing!" Jack shouted. Couldn't anyone in this place let him talk to himself in peace?
Daniel Jackson, the archeologist, adjusted his glasses pointedly and then looked away.
Jack suddenly felt a little awkward at Daniel's glance. Shouting at his new teammates was not a great way to make a first impression. "Sorry. It's been a day," he said. "What do we have, down there?"
Carter tipped her head at him, one hand coming up to thoughtfully tug at the ends of her hair. "There's a village. They haven't observed us yet, though there are people keeping watch."
"Great," Jack said, suddenly realizing that he had no real idea of what he was doing with this whole damn Stargate Program to begin with. George hadn't exactly been clear about their goals, other than kill the freaky Goa'uld snake things and stay alive. While Jack could get behind simple goals and objectives, that did leave an awful lot that he didn't really know what to do with. Why couldn't someone have given him a guidebook - Exploring Alien Civilizations for Dummies. "Shall we go say hi?"
Daniel looked back and scowled. "Yeah, why don't we just go say hello, how you doing, what nice energy weapons you have, can we take a look?"
"Energy weapons?" Jack asked, walking over to near where Daniel was standing, but keeping enough distance that Daniel wouldn't stalk off or something.
Daniel sighed. "The two men at the village entrance have handheld energy weapons in their holsters. I've seen them before when I was on Abydos. Those weapons are a sure bet that there are Goa'uld in the village," he said slowly, as if he was explaining a very simple concept to an inattentive child.
"Great. So, we go liberate the village from Goa'uld oppression?" Jack asked.
"That would be most unwise," Teal'c said, having silently come up behind Jack. "To alert them to our presence would not only bring our death, but the deaths of the human villagers as well. We should return to your home-world and report the situation."
Jack stared at his team, seriously confused as to what was going on. "So, we came all this way to see if they were Goa'uld, and now that we know that there are Goa'uld, we're going home? Seriously?"
"That's what we're supposed to do, sir. I'd say that we only have a little while longer before we're noticed here, especially if we don't get back on the other side of the ridge," Carter said, adjusting her cap as she looked down at the village. "Too late, one of their sentries looked up. We need to go now."
"How can you even know that?" Jack asked as he leaned forward to squint down at the village. He could barely make out the people there and Carter hadn't been using binoculars or anything.
"We need to go, now," Daniel repeated, starting back down the ridge the way they'd come.
"Hey!" Jack shouted, deciding he didn't give a damn about first impressions on a mission. "I give the orders around here! You don't get to make that call."
Carter and Teal'c stayed put even though Daniel didn't turn back.
"We should leave, the longer we stay here the worse it will become," Carter said, her tone growing more urgent. "Sir."
"If the Goa'uld are aware of our presence, a retreat is the strategic option," Teal'c added.
Jack sighed. "Fine, whatever. Let's go. But I don't know why we came out here in the first place. Stupid field trip of a mission."
Carter raised her eyebrows briefly before bounding after Daniel, her movements lithe and graceful. Jack watched their descent for a moment, deciding that he had a pair of mountain goats on his team instead of people, and then followed with Teal'c bringing up the back.
The already overcast skies opened up and rain started to pour down on them, leaving Jack dripping in mere moments. "Perfect. Just perfect."
*****
The following day, when Jack was wearing dry clothes and had a few hours to recover from the shock of being shot at by aliens, he sought out Daniel Jackson. Cheyenne Mountain was a fairly big base, considering it was inside a mountain, but it was still an enclosed space that should theoretically be difficult to disappear within. Jack had already checked with the front guard and his wayward archeologist had stayed the night in the mountain. He'd looked in all the public gathering areas he could think of, discovered that Carter had a lab - though it was empty - and was now tracking down Daniel's office.
Interestingly enough, Daniel Jackson was listed as having an office, but there was no phone extension or floor and room number on the roster. After an hour of searching, Jack decided that his guess and check method wasn't working and did what he did best: he went back to the mess hall, got a bowl of chocolate pudding, and settled in to wait. The man would have to get hungry and surface at some point.
Four cups of coffee, two bowls of pudding, and a slice of apple pie later, Daniel Jackson entered the mess hall. His long hair was wild, like he'd forgotten it was there, and his expression suggested that he hadn't slept in a day or two. Somehow, beneath the unkempt surface appearance, Jack could see that Daniel was actually a very attractive man. He had a strong jaw and keen blue eyes, eyes that were now piercing Jack with what almost felt like icy bolts being struck through his chest. For a moment Jack wondered if this was what it was like to be hit with one of those energy weapons, all of his senses pushed through beyond their natural limits as he sat frozen and stunned.
Jack stared helplessly as Daniel walked towards him, truly acknowledging Jack for the first time. Daniel sat down across from him, his hands folded neatly on the surface of the table as he considered Jack.
"Why hello, Jack? Do you mind if I sit here?" Jack asked, pitching his voice higher in a bad impersonation of Daniel's voice. "Not at all. Why don't you get yourself a cup of coffee and a slice of pie and stay a while?" Jack continued in his normal tone.
"Uh huh," Daniel said slowly, watching Jack like someone might watch a small animal doing something moderately amusing.
"We need to talk," Jack said when it was clear that Daniel wasn't going to continue with anything more enlightening.
One of Daniel's eyebrows arched in wordless question.
Jack sighed and used his fork to trace idle patterns in the leftover crumbs on his plate. "What happened yesterday, that can't happen again," he said, any traces of humor or mockery gone from his voice. Jack hated being serious, he hated having to care about something enough to take it seriously, but when it came to his team not dying, he cared. Even though he wasn't sure he could even stand to be in the same room as his teammates, they were now his responsibility.
"Well, Jack, if you're that unnerved by aliens with energy weapons, perhaps you should ask to be reassigned to a less dangerous posting?" Daniel asked.
Jack bristled at the sarcasm in Daniel's voice. He'd flown dangerous missions, nearly died a dozen times over in the line of duty and fought in more battles than he cared to remember. He wasn't unnerved by being shot at by aliens - well, only a little bit, because of the alien part - but he was unnerved by nearly losing a member of his team. "I don't care about aliens shooting at us. The way I figure it, that will probably be our standard reception. However, when they started shooting, you were no where in sight."
Daniel shrugged. "I was back at the 'gate. I would have came back if you'd needed help. You were all nearly there anyway."
"That's not the point," Jack said, almost growling.
"Are you going to tell me the point?" Daniel asked, not having lost his flippant tone. "Because, usually that statement is more effective when it's followed by the point you're trying to make."
"My point is that I'm in command of the team, you obey my orders, you do what I tell you," Jack said, the muscles in his forearms showing as he clenched the fork in his hand. "You don't go running off by yourself, so that when you're shot or kidnapped, I'll know about it. Understood?"
Daniel smirked. "Not so much. I have a job to do, so do you. As far as I figure, you do yours and I'll do mine, and we can stay out of each others way. It's better like that."
Jack shook his head. "Not happening. There's only one person in charge, and that's me."
"Yeah, no," Daniel said.
"Yeah, yes," Jack countered and then softened. "Look, I get it. I'm the big dumb jock, I probably look the same as the ones that tormented you and your geeky friends all throughout high school. You don't like me and you don't trust me. But I'm telling you, I've got your back. We're team."
"We're all in this together?" Daniel added with an unbecoming snort.
"Yes," Jack said firmly. "You're my team, which means if someone is bothering you, I'll take care of it."
Daniel laughed, his open palm slapping against the table, and then stood. "You've got it all backwards, Jack. I'm not afraid of you. You, on the other hand, should be afraid of me." It was the first non-sarcastic thing Daniel had said to him.
"Is that a threat?" Jack asked incredulously as he looked the skinny archeologist up and down. While certainly attractive, there was no way he could take Jack in a fight, even if Jack wasn't military trained.
"It's a warning," Daniel said, taking a step back without looking away from Jack. "And you'd be wise to heed it. Stay away from me."
Jack stared, his mouth hanging open as he watched Daniel move swiftly from the mess hall. That was not at all how'd he'd envisioned that conversation. He'd pictured Daniel ducking his head contritely and promising to give Jack a chance to prove he wasn't a bad guy despite his brawny exterior. Instead, Jack had been threatened - he could clearly hear the threat no matter what Daniel had called it - and then effortlessly dismissed.
With his brilliant and well thought out plan laid to waste, Jack thoughtfully examined the crop circle pattern he'd etched in his pie crust crumbs. "Well, any bright ideas?" he asked himself, pausing to glare at a passing airman who was staring wide-eyed with confusion.
Thoroughly regretting the forth cup of coffee, and possibly the second bowl of pudding, Jack pushed himself to his feet and went off to look for his alien friend. Even if Teal'c wouldn't have any words of wisdom for him, at least he wouldn't act like Jack had a social disease either.
*****
The battle was nearly over by the time Jack realized they were under attack. It was their fourth mission off-world and he was starting to wonder exactly how many dense and dark forests that were practically devoid of intelligent life they were going to have to walk through. Turned out that this particular forest wasn't devoid of people, and it just so happened the civilizations weren't really pleased to have them traipsing around their territory. Who knew?
Jack hit the forest floor hard, narrowly avoiding hitting a particularly vicious looking tree root as he dodged the alien projectile that had come directly by his head. As he rolled to the side, pulling his firearm out of its holster as he went, his first thought was for his team. He knew that Teal'c, the alien warrior who could lift weights like nothing Jack had ever seen, was battle ready, and Captain Carter damn well better be able to hold her own in a firefight if she was in the USAF, but Jack suddenly realized that he had no idea about the defensive capabilities of his frequently missing archeologist.
From his vantage point on the ground Jack couldn't see much except for the odd looking elongated bullets that were still being fired in their direction and his team was scattered somewhere in the thick foliage. For all Jack knew they could be a few feet away from him and taking cover behind a thick tree trunk or under the huge leaves of the shrub to his immediate left. "Daniel," Jack called, with his voice pitched low in a feeble attempt to not give away his own position.
There was no response and Jack's mind was filled with images of Daniel laying somewhere nearby, injured or dying, or already dead. "Jackson!" he called, a little bit louder this time. Another volley from the natives drowned out the answer, if there had been one at all, and Jack crawled to where he might have a chance of seeing who was firing at them. When he reached a reasonably sheltered place, Jack slowly moved up against the tree trunk and peered around to find a group of seven or eight people who were dressed in jungle-style attire that might have fit right in to a cheesy movie from the 70's. They had weapons that looked almost like a crossbow had bred with a machine gun. The rapid fire had stopped, but they were still aiming in the general direction of where the team had last been.
Jack barely spotted Carter out of the corner of his eye as she moved forward to a defensive position and was in just the right place to see one of the natives see her and aim his weapon. "Carter down!" he shouted, watching just long enough to see her take cover. He dropped down behind the tree, feeling the entire trunk shudder as projectiles hit it a moment later. The sounds of Carter's P-90 and a staff weapon filled the air as his team returned fire. Jack was just moving around the other side of the tree, staying as low as he could while still prepared to shoot, when he was tackled roughly to the ground.
A second later the air filled with weapons fire again. Jack stared up at Daniel Jackson, who'd managed to lose his floppy hat in all the confusion, and tried to make sense of what had just happened. It was easy enough to understand; Daniel had just saved his life, had pushed him out of the way of a bullet. Any soldier would recognize this act, but Daniel was no soldier.
"Say down," Daniel instructed, sounding just as irritated with Jack as he usually did.
"Like hell," Jack replied when Daniel got off him, but by the time Jack had rolled over Daniel was already gone back into the forest. The time seemed to pass in the space of a few heartbeats, but the weapons fire ceased along with the sounds of the natives making a quick retreat, and when Jack peered around the edge of a different tree trunk there were no native warriors to be seen.
Carter and Daniel were the first to come down into the small clearing, with Teal'c a moment behind them. Jack's quick eyes ran over the forest again, waiting for an ambush, but none came. He untangled his boots from a vine that would have tripped him up if he'd had to scramble for safety and joined the rest of his team.
"Nice job," Jack said, impressed and confused all at once. It was good to know that his team could all handle themselves, even his archeologist, but he hadn't even managed to do much more than take cover and keep himself from getting shot.
Daniel actually smiled and Jack was stunned by how much the expression changed his appearance. Daniel looked good before, but when he smiled and meant it he became almost ethereal. "I think we can mark this planet off as hostile, regardless of Goa'uld occupation status," he said, brushing a long strand of hair away from his eyes.
"Ya think?" Jack asked, finding himself returning the smile. He turned around in the forest, searching for his bearings. "Does anyone remember where we parked?"
"The Chapa'ai is this direction, O'Neill," Teal'c said, direction his staff weapon back through the mess of debris that was created by their battle.
"Nice one, T," Jack complimented. He'd only taught Teal'c the phrase about 'where did we park' a few days earlier, but it seemed to have stuck.
They walked in silence for a while and Jack fell back so that he was walking well behind Daniel and Teal'c. "Nice duck and cover there, Carter," he said, interesting in gauging her reaction. He'd never seen Carter anything but unflappably collected. Urgent or irritated, sure, but even under those circumstances she always projected an aura of calm and control.
Carter looked back and adjusted her hat. Other than the dirt smudges on her jacket and pants she could have just walked out of a military fashion show - if they actually had such a thing. "You saved me from getting shot, I think you can call me Sam, sir."
"Sam then," Jack said. He knew that a lot of teams wound up dropping the formalities of ranks and 'sirs', the close bonds created by combat and continuous danger overriding their military programing. "You can call me Jack, or O'Neill, or whatever. You know. when we're not around the General and all that."
Carter - Sam - smiled, and Jack realized he'd never really seen her do that until now either. Apparently there was just something about being shot at that put his team in a really good mood. "We'll see," she said, but there was a playful amusement in her voice that told him that she'd at least started to accept him as a team leader.
Despite the firefight and the few close calls, Jack thought this was probably their best mission yet. Now if only he could stop thinking about that moment where Daniel had pinned him to the ground and looked down into his eyes. Jack lapsed into a contemplative silence, wondering exactly what it would take to get his team to agree to a round of practice sparring when they were back on base.
*****
After a slow morning spent first in a briefing about Goa'uld activities near their allies - it was news to Jack that they actually had allies in the galaxy - and then working out with Teal'c in the gym to attempt to ease the boredom, it was finally time for lunch. The day had felt particularly grim and even though Jack hadn't been out of the mountain to see the storm coming in he'd heard about from the morning weather report he could feel it in the air. Everything felt slow and stifling, like there wasn't enough air to draw a full breath, and Jack was relieved to be able to sit for a while and focus only on what he was eating. It was the simple things in life that made it worth it he had slowly come to decide: eating, fishing, sleeping, and kicking back with his feet up. The occasionally rush of adrenaline didn't hurt either, just as a reminder of why those simple things were so good.
Jack made it a point to go before Teal'c through the food line. The man, and his muscles, were massive and Jack had seen first hand just how much food he could consume in a single sitting. He'd just finished picking his dessert, pumpkin pie with whipped cream that should go quite nicely with a second cup of coffee at the end of his meal, when he heard his name being called. His name was called again, a little louder this time, then followed by a call for Teal'c. Turning, he found Sam Carter standing next to a table with a bright grin on her face as she waved them over.
"Looks like we're being invited to the popular table," Jack said as he eyed Daniel and the two people he'd seen them eating with several times in the mess hall. Daniel didn't seem particularly enthused about Sam inviting other people to sit with them, or maybe he just wasn't happy about Jack being invited, but the other two were looking over curiously. "What do you say?"
"I have told that it is impolite to refuse a request for a communal dining arrangement," Teal'c said.
Jack thought that he was going to have to teach Teal'c a few more things about Earth before anyone got the idea that Teal'c might be dateable. "Let's go then," Jack said and started across the mess hall. It wasn't really about being polite so much as it was about perturbing Daniel. Daniel had made a fairly concerted effort to avoid Jack when it was at all possible and Jack was enjoying placing himself in the man's presence just to be contrary.
"It's good to see you, sir," Sam said as she moved a laptop off the end of the table so that Jack and Teal'c would have a place to sit. "I almost thought they'd keep you in that briefing forever."
"Me too," Jack said earnestly as he sat next to Sam and smiled in return. Sam had warmed up to him a lot ever since he'd saved her from being shot two days previous, though Daniel had immediately returned to responding to Jack with derisive and cutting criticism. Even now Daniel was sulkily focused on the cup of coffee he had wrapped his hands around.
"Jack, this is Janet Fraiser, she's the chief medical officer in Cheyenne Mountain," Sam said, motioning to the smaller blonde woman that was sitting next to Daniel.
Janet smiled, assessing Jack with a quick glance, and twirled a long piece of pasta on the end of her fork. "I'm sure I would have met you eventually, Colonel O'Neill. Probably sooner than later, given what Sam and Daniel have told me about your last mission."
Jack suppressed a shudder. Somehow military medical staff always sent him running in the opposite direction - usually because he wanted to be doing something that they would order him not to if they managed to catch him. "I'm sure you would," he said, reminding himself that he'd probably wind up under Janet's care at some point in the future so he should at least try to be polite.
"And this is Jonas Quinn. He's from off-world and he's only been here a few months, not quite as long as Teal'c," Sam said, introducing the man sitting on her other side.
Jack leaned forward and peered over at the other off-worlder. Jonas didn't look anything like Teal'c. Where Teal'c was broad, muscular and bald, Jonas was slender with ruffled brown hair. "Nice to meet you," Jack said, hoping the man understood English as well as Teal'c did. "Where are you from?"
Jonas looked down, his fingers tracing the long lines of the banana he was holding. "My home world was called Langara," he said quietly.
It took Jack a moment before he caught the was and realized that Jonas was probably with them because he no longer had his own planet.
"One day the Goa'uld will pay for all the worlds they have ravaged and destroyed and for all the lives they have taken. They will no longer hold sway over the galaxy when we have successfully liberated ourselves," Teal'c said, the words quiet but firm.
Jonas looked up at Teal'c, his eyes wide with surprise and his skin even paler, if that was possible. "We will avenge all we have lost," he replied, and Jack was forced to revise his impression of the man from a trembling scientist to a force to be reckoned with.
Now that the conversation was sufficiently awkward Jack turned back to his meal and dug in with gusto. He was hyper aware of Daniel's presence, even though the man hadn't looked up once during the entire exchange. What was it about this guy that he couldn't even look in Jack's direction? Jack couldn't think of anything offensive, or even rude, that he'd ever said to Daniel. He hadn't even suggested that he leave Daniel behind on a planet, not that Jack would, even if he'd half-heartedly thought about it every now and again. Daniel seemed to get along fine with Sam, and even with Teal'c when Jack was far enough away. Jack had seen Daniel talk with other scientists, with Janet and Jonas, and even with George Hammond on one occasion, which left Jack with the odd realization that it was just him Daniel was avoiding.
"It's raining now," Jonas said suddenly, his head tipped back as he looked at the ceiling with a serene expression.
Jack frowned. It was forecasted to rain that day, but for all he knew the rain had started hours ago or hadn't even started yet. There was no way to tell this deep inside the mountain.
Jonas closed his eyes but kept his head tipped back. "I can feel it in the air, almost like an electric current running along my skin. I can smell it."
Jack looked around the table, expecting expressions of incredulity, or at least covert glances that meant that the kid was crazy, but instead found everyone - even Daniel - watching Jonas intently.
"It's okay, it's just a minor storm. We can go up and see it if you want," Daniel said, his voice surprisingly soft and kind.
"I can get us clearance," Sam offered.
Jonas shook his head and took an uneven breath. "I don't want to see the rain here yet, but I can't get far enough away that I wouldn't be able to hear it."
The table cleared out pretty quickly after that. Sam, Daniel and Janet all hustled Jonas away, Sam looking back to tell Jack and Teal'c that she'd see them around the base.
"Maybe his people have like, super sonic hearing or something?" Jack asked, stabbing his fork deeper into his bowl of spaghetti to mask his discomfort.
"Perhaps that is so, O'Neill. But perhaps he simply misses his home," Teal'c said before he occupied himself with his meal.
Jack nodded to himself and finished his meal and his dessert, even though neither were as enjoyable as he'd been anticipating. When he finished he excused himself while Teal'c went back for seconds. The elevator ride to the surface was slow enough that it wasn't ear popping, but when the doors opened Jack could hear the rain pounding down on the surface of the road.
"How long ago did the rain start?" he asked one of the guards on duty.
"Approximately twenty minutes ago, sir," the guard replied.
Jack stared out, breathing in the damp air and wondering what it would be like to never smell the rain on his own planet again. It wasn't something he wanted to find out.
*****
Next: Vampires, and Werewolves, and Wormholes, Oh My! (1/3)