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jedibuttercupPG-13, A:tS/SG-1. Other chapters here.
A certain package meant for Angel ends up on Daniel Jackson's desk instead.
Title: An Unexpected Gift, 8/?
Author: Jedi Buttercup
Disclaimer: The words are mine; the worlds are not. I claim nothing but the plot.
Rating: PG-13
Summary: A certain package meant for Angel ends up on Daniel Jackson's desk instead.
Spoilers:AU after Angel 5.1 "Conviction", Stargate SG-1 to 7.12 "Evolution Part II".
Notes: Regarding the timeline, I'm pretending the SG-1 episodes which were aired in January 2004 (in the US) after the Sci-Fi Channel's winter break actually occurred more immediately after "Evolution".
Sgt. Harriman murmured something in General Hammond's ear, his voice pitched too quietly for Sam to hear, then straightened, a tense expression on his face as he watched the general absorb his message. Hammond's lips pursed in thoughtful dismay as he nodded and murmured another message in return; Walter snapped out a respectful "Yes, sir," then turned and walked quickly back out of the conference room.
Sam watched the sergeant go with a feeling of dismay. According to her watch, the time was still several minutes on the wrong side of oh-six-hundred, an hour at which she'd normally still be yawning over her first cup of coffee of the day as she got ready to leave for the Mountain. There were no missions scheduled to leave or return at this hour, so whatever had brought Walter in from the control room had to be something out of the ordinary-- and 'something out of the ordinary' was rarely good news of late for Stargate Command.
The general studied his clasped hands on the table before him for a moment, his expression one of deep thought, then took a deep breath and looked up, staring directly at Sam. "Major, if I recall correctly, prior to the appearance of our-- guest-- you had planned to gate to Tagrean and accompany the Prometheus back to Earth."
Sam nodded. "Yes, sir," she said. Though the threat of Anubis' Kull Warriors remained imminent, there was little she could add at present to the teams working on a way to stop them. The short trip aboard the Prometheus, necessarily broken up into several segments so as not to overheat the retrofitted Alkesh hyperdrive they'd installed as a temporary replacement for the failed naquadriah-based system, had seemed like an excellent diversion. It would have allowed her a chance to familiarize herself further with the ship, as well as giving her an opportunity to study several unique astronomical phenomena adjacent to the chosen rest points along the flight path. Of course, given the current situation, she'd contacted Colonel Ronson and informed him that she would be sending another scientist from the astrophysics department in her place.
Hammond nodded in return. "I'd like you to continue with that mission as originally planned," he said solemnly, then turned his attention to Daniel. "Dr. Jackson, you and your-- companion-- will accompany her. You'll have one hour to assemble any necessary gear and come up with a credible explanation for your presence on the mission; I expect you to be through the gate by oh-seven-hundred, with orders for Colonel Ronson to launch the Prometheus as quickly as possible."
"But sir," Sam objected, exchanging dismayed glances with Daniel. "We don’t even know for sure yet whether the amulet will react with the gate, and I'm not sure it's in our best interests to expose our guest-- whom we still know almost nothing about, and who can't even sign a non-disclosure form in his current state-- to so much of our advanced technology."
Daniel glanced at the empty seat again as she spoke, a forbidding expression on his face. Sam was sure that Spike was making some kind of protest-- in fact, she almost thought she could hear a faint susurrus of indistinguishable language coming from that direction-- but no amount of righteous indignation could change the fact that he was a complete stranger to them, even if Captain Miller hadn't disparaged his character, and she couldn't believe Hammond would trust him that far.
"I'm aware of all that, Major," the general replied gravely, "but given what little we have learned about the amulet and its purpose, I think it would be a good idea for it, and its occupant, to be out of reach of Earth for the time being. Senator Kinsey is already on his way to Colorado, and the CEO of the Los Angeles branch of Wolfram and Hart boarded his private jet an hour ago."
"No time wasted there," Colonel O'Neill muttered sourly, fiddling with his pen.
"No kidding," Daniel muttered. "So the plan is to put the amulet somewhere Kinsey can't get his hands on it, or order it brought back through the gate? But what if he's still here when we get back?"
"We'll worry about that when the time comes," Hammond assured him. "The idea is to gain some breathing room. You were still on light duty, Dr. Jackson; take your research materials with you and make use of the scientific equipment aboard the ship to further study the amulet and Mr., ah, Spike's situation. If nothing has changed by the time the Prometheus reaches the Alpha Site, I'll authorize SG-1 to take a side trip to P7X-337 before returning home."
Sam recognized the address for the planet of the crystal skull and its attendant people, the giant aliens led by the being known to the Mayans as Quetzalcoatl. Given what she now knew about Spike's interaction with their phase of reality, she doubted the skull would have any effect on him, but she wouldn't object to the detour; it would be a rare chance for Daniel to see his grandfather, Nick Ballard, who'd joined the aliens there four years ago. But they would cross that bridge when they came to it.
"And what about the possibility that the amulet might interact badly with the gate?" Sam asked, still worried.
"Your technicians pronounced the amulet harmless upon its arrival, did they not?" Teal'c asked unexpectedly.
Sam glanced over at her Jaffa teammate to find him brushing a finger over Nyan's sticky note, which had been brought with the envelope and the amulet to the briefing room as evidence. "Yes," she said, "but they didn't know specifically what they were looking for-- and according to both Spike and Captain Miller, the amulet is a weapon. One capable of channeling a great deal of energy, and which has already caused the collapse of an entire town."
"Spike says-- it wasn't the amulet that did that, it was the, um, the entity he was fighting," Daniel replied, his brow furrowed. Sam could hear the faint soughing of a voice in the background again, though still far below her threshold of comprehension; she glanced at the space where Spike sat as Daniel spoke and thought she could almost see a pale shadow of a person sitting there. Maybe the amulet was giving off enough of whatever energy it channeled that it was beginning to affect those around it? Or maybe it was slowly reverting Spike back to their phase of reality?
"Apparently this, this First had been using some kind of well of energy under the town as a resource," Daniel continued, "and when it tried to use that energy as a defense against what Spike was doing. That's what caused the collapse-- the warring energies, not the amulet itself."
"Captain?" Hammond prompted, turning the focus of his attention on Miller.
Miller snorted. "I hadn't heard it described like that before," he said. "We mostly just called it the Hellmouth. But as far as it goes-- I think that's probably an accurate explanation of what happened."
Sam wanted badly to ask what Spike meant by 'well of energy', but doubted she'd get the kind of response she was looking for. She glanced up at the colonel, hoping to catch his attention, and was gratified to find him already looking her way. He made a gesture where Miller couldn't see it, and Sam relaxed a little; he was already planning to follow up with the captain while they were gone. Miller may have done them a huge favor by warning them before Kinsey and the lawyers could arrive, but he had admitted to being a spy for the NID, and he'd also admitted to knowledge of other NID sources in the SGC. The general couldn't afford to let that pass, and without another mission the task of pursuing the loose ends of Miller's story would probably fall to the colonel and Teal'c.
"Any more objections?" Hammond asked.
Sam shook her head. She still had misgivings about the plan, and she hated the thought of running from Kinsey, but the general was right; if Spike and the amulet hadn't arrived she'd have made the trip anyway, and it would be nice to have Daniel along for company. "No, sir," she answered.
"Good," Hammond said firmly, and closed the folder in front of him. "Dismissed."
-~-
(x-posted to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
stargate_xing & twistedshorts)
A certain package meant for Angel ends up on Daniel Jackson's desk instead.
Title: An Unexpected Gift, 8/?
Author: Jedi Buttercup
Disclaimer: The words are mine; the worlds are not. I claim nothing but the plot.
Rating: PG-13
Summary: A certain package meant for Angel ends up on Daniel Jackson's desk instead.
Spoilers:AU after Angel 5.1 "Conviction", Stargate SG-1 to 7.12 "Evolution Part II".
Notes: Regarding the timeline, I'm pretending the SG-1 episodes which were aired in January 2004 (in the US) after the Sci-Fi Channel's winter break actually occurred more immediately after "Evolution".
Sgt. Harriman murmured something in General Hammond's ear, his voice pitched too quietly for Sam to hear, then straightened, a tense expression on his face as he watched the general absorb his message. Hammond's lips pursed in thoughtful dismay as he nodded and murmured another message in return; Walter snapped out a respectful "Yes, sir," then turned and walked quickly back out of the conference room.
Sam watched the sergeant go with a feeling of dismay. According to her watch, the time was still several minutes on the wrong side of oh-six-hundred, an hour at which she'd normally still be yawning over her first cup of coffee of the day as she got ready to leave for the Mountain. There were no missions scheduled to leave or return at this hour, so whatever had brought Walter in from the control room had to be something out of the ordinary-- and 'something out of the ordinary' was rarely good news of late for Stargate Command.
The general studied his clasped hands on the table before him for a moment, his expression one of deep thought, then took a deep breath and looked up, staring directly at Sam. "Major, if I recall correctly, prior to the appearance of our-- guest-- you had planned to gate to Tagrean and accompany the Prometheus back to Earth."
Sam nodded. "Yes, sir," she said. Though the threat of Anubis' Kull Warriors remained imminent, there was little she could add at present to the teams working on a way to stop them. The short trip aboard the Prometheus, necessarily broken up into several segments so as not to overheat the retrofitted Alkesh hyperdrive they'd installed as a temporary replacement for the failed naquadriah-based system, had seemed like an excellent diversion. It would have allowed her a chance to familiarize herself further with the ship, as well as giving her an opportunity to study several unique astronomical phenomena adjacent to the chosen rest points along the flight path. Of course, given the current situation, she'd contacted Colonel Ronson and informed him that she would be sending another scientist from the astrophysics department in her place.
Hammond nodded in return. "I'd like you to continue with that mission as originally planned," he said solemnly, then turned his attention to Daniel. "Dr. Jackson, you and your-- companion-- will accompany her. You'll have one hour to assemble any necessary gear and come up with a credible explanation for your presence on the mission; I expect you to be through the gate by oh-seven-hundred, with orders for Colonel Ronson to launch the Prometheus as quickly as possible."
"But sir," Sam objected, exchanging dismayed glances with Daniel. "We don’t even know for sure yet whether the amulet will react with the gate, and I'm not sure it's in our best interests to expose our guest-- whom we still know almost nothing about, and who can't even sign a non-disclosure form in his current state-- to so much of our advanced technology."
Daniel glanced at the empty seat again as she spoke, a forbidding expression on his face. Sam was sure that Spike was making some kind of protest-- in fact, she almost thought she could hear a faint susurrus of indistinguishable language coming from that direction-- but no amount of righteous indignation could change the fact that he was a complete stranger to them, even if Captain Miller hadn't disparaged his character, and she couldn't believe Hammond would trust him that far.
"I'm aware of all that, Major," the general replied gravely, "but given what little we have learned about the amulet and its purpose, I think it would be a good idea for it, and its occupant, to be out of reach of Earth for the time being. Senator Kinsey is already on his way to Colorado, and the CEO of the Los Angeles branch of Wolfram and Hart boarded his private jet an hour ago."
"No time wasted there," Colonel O'Neill muttered sourly, fiddling with his pen.
"No kidding," Daniel muttered. "So the plan is to put the amulet somewhere Kinsey can't get his hands on it, or order it brought back through the gate? But what if he's still here when we get back?"
"We'll worry about that when the time comes," Hammond assured him. "The idea is to gain some breathing room. You were still on light duty, Dr. Jackson; take your research materials with you and make use of the scientific equipment aboard the ship to further study the amulet and Mr., ah, Spike's situation. If nothing has changed by the time the Prometheus reaches the Alpha Site, I'll authorize SG-1 to take a side trip to P7X-337 before returning home."
Sam recognized the address for the planet of the crystal skull and its attendant people, the giant aliens led by the being known to the Mayans as Quetzalcoatl. Given what she now knew about Spike's interaction with their phase of reality, she doubted the skull would have any effect on him, but she wouldn't object to the detour; it would be a rare chance for Daniel to see his grandfather, Nick Ballard, who'd joined the aliens there four years ago. But they would cross that bridge when they came to it.
"And what about the possibility that the amulet might interact badly with the gate?" Sam asked, still worried.
"Your technicians pronounced the amulet harmless upon its arrival, did they not?" Teal'c asked unexpectedly.
Sam glanced over at her Jaffa teammate to find him brushing a finger over Nyan's sticky note, which had been brought with the envelope and the amulet to the briefing room as evidence. "Yes," she said, "but they didn't know specifically what they were looking for-- and according to both Spike and Captain Miller, the amulet is a weapon. One capable of channeling a great deal of energy, and which has already caused the collapse of an entire town."
"Spike says-- it wasn't the amulet that did that, it was the, um, the entity he was fighting," Daniel replied, his brow furrowed. Sam could hear the faint soughing of a voice in the background again, though still far below her threshold of comprehension; she glanced at the space where Spike sat as Daniel spoke and thought she could almost see a pale shadow of a person sitting there. Maybe the amulet was giving off enough of whatever energy it channeled that it was beginning to affect those around it? Or maybe it was slowly reverting Spike back to their phase of reality?
"Apparently this, this First had been using some kind of well of energy under the town as a resource," Daniel continued, "and when it tried to use that energy as a defense against what Spike was doing. That's what caused the collapse-- the warring energies, not the amulet itself."
"Captain?" Hammond prompted, turning the focus of his attention on Miller.
Miller snorted. "I hadn't heard it described like that before," he said. "We mostly just called it the Hellmouth. But as far as it goes-- I think that's probably an accurate explanation of what happened."
Sam wanted badly to ask what Spike meant by 'well of energy', but doubted she'd get the kind of response she was looking for. She glanced up at the colonel, hoping to catch his attention, and was gratified to find him already looking her way. He made a gesture where Miller couldn't see it, and Sam relaxed a little; he was already planning to follow up with the captain while they were gone. Miller may have done them a huge favor by warning them before Kinsey and the lawyers could arrive, but he had admitted to being a spy for the NID, and he'd also admitted to knowledge of other NID sources in the SGC. The general couldn't afford to let that pass, and without another mission the task of pursuing the loose ends of Miller's story would probably fall to the colonel and Teal'c.
"Any more objections?" Hammond asked.
Sam shook her head. She still had misgivings about the plan, and she hated the thought of running from Kinsey, but the general was right; if Spike and the amulet hadn't arrived she'd have made the trip anyway, and it would be nice to have Daniel along for company. "No, sir," she answered.
"Good," Hammond said firmly, and closed the folder in front of him. "Dismissed."
-~-
(x-posted to
stargate_xing & twistedshorts)
