Fic: Stjerneportalen (8/8)
Title: Stjerneportalen - Chapter 08 (Enhjørnings Planeten)
Author:
mirrored_illusions aka
3am_moonlight
Fandom: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV), Stargate Atlantis (TV)
Rating / Timeline: Teen & Up. / Post BtVS, ca. S05 of SGA.
Characters: Buffy Summers, John Sheppard, Teyla Emmagan, Ronon Dex, Rodney McKay, Elizabeth Weir, Evan Lorne, Laura Cadman.
WC: 9, 713 / Complete.
Disclaimer: BtVS belongs to Joss Whedon, the Stargate franchise is the property of whoever holds the copyright.
Other links: AO3 | FF | TtH
A/N 1: Not beta read. Sorry.
A/N 2: This was written for the 2016 Fic-A-Day Challenge over at TwistedShorts on LJ / TtHFanfic.org.
- I'm finally reposting this fic to DW and LJ; it only took two months! Oops?
A/N 3: ‘Stjerneportalen’ is simply a Norwegian translation of ‘the stargate’. ‘Enhjørnings planeten’ means ‘the unicorn planet’.
The next morning found Buffy on the Unicorn Planet along with Major Lorne, Laura, Dr. Draum, and Col. Sheppard’s team. This time there seemed to be a distinct lack of green equines with a horn on the forehead, something she wasn’t entirely certain was a good thing or not. Either way she kept scanning the area both visually and by way of her enhanced auditory perception. There was no way they would be able to ambush the group again.
After showing the colonel and his team where the attack had happened, she was sent on sentry duty again along with Ronon who had no interest in either the ruins or the weak signal which was still coming and going. Predictably Dr. McKay had taken over the search for the maybe-Ancient signal and he conscripted Dr. Draum as his assistant, much to the other mans indignation.
It didn't matter though, if they wanted to squabble it was their problem. Instead she just walked the perimeter on the opposite side of Ronon. Three weeks later and he was still handsome, his biceps were still an enjoyable view and, as their sparring proved, not just for show. He also turned out to be a lot like Angel is verbal department, which was to say that he either kept quiet or he spoke in vague riddles. Okay, she admitted to herself, that last part wasn't entirely true, it just seemed that way to her because she wasn't familiar with Sateda, Atlantis, or either of their history. Sadly there were no makeout sessions to go along with the cryptic talking though. Which was a pity because the man appeared to be just her type; tall, broody, and dangerous. Oh well, she had only been with this group for a few weeks so there was still time.
That was when she heard it; hooves walking steadily over soft earth in the nearby forest. Her eyes roamed over the edge of the forest, scrutinizing it for the most likely place the unicorns would chose to leave the cover of the trees. She made a note to keep an eye on where they had exited the last time, but logically they would not take the same route. After a minute she looked up and met Ronon's eyes and gave him the pre-arrenged signal. Out of the corner of her eye she saw him get Sheppard's attention, and then like a domino effect everyone were suddenly aware of the upcoming danger.
In the forest the unicorns were closing in on them, and Buffy listened intently to try and make out how many were coming. A short while later she met Sheppard's eyes and held up one hand, showing all five fingers before closing the hand and holding up another two. There were seven of them, double of how many they had been last time. In her peripheral view she saw Laura come up beside her, on the other side of the ruins Major Lorne met Ronon as they walked back towards the group down in the ruins before stopping a short distance from them and entered a defensive stance.
A few minutes later she saw that Teyla had picked up the sound of the unicorns hooves; a minute after Ronon heard them as well, before finally the rest of them heard it. Everyone, including their two resident scientists, were standing in a comfortable defensive stance, waiting for... something. Maybe they would attack or maybe they wouldn't.
It wasn't long before the first three broke through the foliage and charged the group, head down and horn aimed towards three of the eight humans. Ronon used his blaster on one while Laura got the second, and Sheppard himself got the third. That left another four still lurking just out of sight. Buffy met Major Lorne's eye over McKay and Draum, who both looked nearly equally annoyed at being interrupted in their search, and she held up four fingers and then inclined her head towards the forest again.
There were still another four, but as far as she could tell there were no others. The only other animals were birds and other small creatures. It didn't take long for the rest to charge in as well, and like the other three members of their little herd they were gunned down.
Things were calm for the next few hours while Ronon and Laura checked out the equine carcasses, and the scientists did their scientist-y things. Buffy switched between walking around the perimeter and walking around between the ramshackle buildings trying to find something to occupy her failing. Over by the largest structure the two team leaders were discussing weather or nor they should try and bring one of the horse-things back with them on or not, and if so how they were going to accomplish that task.
Buffy tuned them out and kept walking until something inside one of the smaller properties suddenly lit up when she came up alongside it. Uh oh, she thought to herself. Over by the scientists something beeped.
"Dr. McKay, there's something over here that lit up when I came close to it." Just on the edge of her hearing she heard the now unmistakable sound of hooves, this time in a gallop rather than a walk. "And Colonel Sheppard, there are more unicorns coming. I don't think they liked me coming near this particular ruin."
She focused her hearing specifically on the sound of hooves and tried to count how many there were this time. It was made more difficult by the much larger number. In the meantime both McKay and Draum had come over and started messing with what turned out to be the machine that gave of the mysterious signal while they both made a running commentary which went miles over her head.
"Who cares? Turn it off! I'm pretty sure it's what's attracting the unicorns and making them charge us, and this time there's at least a dozen of them!" The last part caught the attention of all three officers and they immediately began surveying the edge of the woods again while readying their P-90's.
Dr. McKay actually listened to her this time and began looking for an off switch or the Ancient version of it at least. Judging by the incessant stream of words he didn't have much luck, and when the horses were a couple of minutes away she went over to Teyla, Ronon, and Laura who were standing right inside their established perimeter.
It proved to be a good idea to be there as there were a lot more than just one dozen, instead there were closer to fifty and they were all out to kill them. Sheppard, Lorne, Cadmam, Ronon, and Teyla were all shooting at the alien creatures while Buffy used her Scythe to behead them as she danced on the left side of the military half of their combined teams. There were only four left when she heard the whoop of success from Dr. Draum, and just like that the last few unicorns became docile. Before anyone could really register what had happened they turned and galloped back into the forest. Left behind were six very confused people, who turned to the two geeks for answers.
However it wouldn't be for another two days that they would get a proper explanation.
Rodney McKay was naturally the one who found the answer. "Remember the Flagisallus?"
A raised eyebrow from Sheppard and he drawled, "As in your friend Sam the not-whale? Yes, he and his buddies made quite the impression on all of us."
"Yes, yes. Turns out that the Ancients tried their little experiment with echo location on the Unicorns first. It failed, but they ended up becoming the guardians of something that is apparently hidden somewhere in the ruins. We need to find out what it is. Especially if it's ZedPM's."
And just like that team Sheppard had sniped the mission from Lorne's team, but Buffy didn't really mind. She knew there were other, more important things coming than murderous not-horses controlled by a long-dead species of human predecessors.
Author:
mirrored_illusions aka
3am_moonlight
Fandom: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV), Stargate Atlantis (TV)
Rating / Timeline: Teen & Up. / Post BtVS, ca. S05 of SGA.
Characters: Buffy Summers, John Sheppard, Teyla Emmagan, Ronon Dex, Rodney McKay, Elizabeth Weir, Evan Lorne, Laura Cadman.
WC: 9, 713 / Complete.
Disclaimer: BtVS belongs to Joss Whedon, the Stargate franchise is the property of whoever holds the copyright.
Other links: AO3 | FF | TtH
A/N 1: Not beta read. Sorry.
A/N 2: This was written for the 2016 Fic-A-Day Challenge over at TwistedShorts on LJ / TtHFanfic.org.
- I'm finally reposting this fic to DW and LJ; it only took two months! Oops?
A/N 3: ‘Stjerneportalen’ is simply a Norwegian translation of ‘the stargate’. ‘Enhjørnings planeten’ means ‘the unicorn planet’.
The next morning found Buffy on the Unicorn Planet along with Major Lorne, Laura, Dr. Draum, and Col. Sheppard’s team. This time there seemed to be a distinct lack of green equines with a horn on the forehead, something she wasn’t entirely certain was a good thing or not. Either way she kept scanning the area both visually and by way of her enhanced auditory perception. There was no way they would be able to ambush the group again.
After showing the colonel and his team where the attack had happened, she was sent on sentry duty again along with Ronon who had no interest in either the ruins or the weak signal which was still coming and going. Predictably Dr. McKay had taken over the search for the maybe-Ancient signal and he conscripted Dr. Draum as his assistant, much to the other mans indignation.
It didn't matter though, if they wanted to squabble it was their problem. Instead she just walked the perimeter on the opposite side of Ronon. Three weeks later and he was still handsome, his biceps were still an enjoyable view and, as their sparring proved, not just for show. He also turned out to be a lot like Angel is verbal department, which was to say that he either kept quiet or he spoke in vague riddles. Okay, she admitted to herself, that last part wasn't entirely true, it just seemed that way to her because she wasn't familiar with Sateda, Atlantis, or either of their history. Sadly there were no makeout sessions to go along with the cryptic talking though. Which was a pity because the man appeared to be just her type; tall, broody, and dangerous. Oh well, she had only been with this group for a few weeks so there was still time.
That was when she heard it; hooves walking steadily over soft earth in the nearby forest. Her eyes roamed over the edge of the forest, scrutinizing it for the most likely place the unicorns would chose to leave the cover of the trees. She made a note to keep an eye on where they had exited the last time, but logically they would not take the same route. After a minute she looked up and met Ronon's eyes and gave him the pre-arrenged signal. Out of the corner of her eye she saw him get Sheppard's attention, and then like a domino effect everyone were suddenly aware of the upcoming danger.
In the forest the unicorns were closing in on them, and Buffy listened intently to try and make out how many were coming. A short while later she met Sheppard's eyes and held up one hand, showing all five fingers before closing the hand and holding up another two. There were seven of them, double of how many they had been last time. In her peripheral view she saw Laura come up beside her, on the other side of the ruins Major Lorne met Ronon as they walked back towards the group down in the ruins before stopping a short distance from them and entered a defensive stance.
A few minutes later she saw that Teyla had picked up the sound of the unicorns hooves; a minute after Ronon heard them as well, before finally the rest of them heard it. Everyone, including their two resident scientists, were standing in a comfortable defensive stance, waiting for... something. Maybe they would attack or maybe they wouldn't.
It wasn't long before the first three broke through the foliage and charged the group, head down and horn aimed towards three of the eight humans. Ronon used his blaster on one while Laura got the second, and Sheppard himself got the third. That left another four still lurking just out of sight. Buffy met Major Lorne's eye over McKay and Draum, who both looked nearly equally annoyed at being interrupted in their search, and she held up four fingers and then inclined her head towards the forest again.
There were still another four, but as far as she could tell there were no others. The only other animals were birds and other small creatures. It didn't take long for the rest to charge in as well, and like the other three members of their little herd they were gunned down.
Things were calm for the next few hours while Ronon and Laura checked out the equine carcasses, and the scientists did their scientist-y things. Buffy switched between walking around the perimeter and walking around between the ramshackle buildings trying to find something to occupy her failing. Over by the largest structure the two team leaders were discussing weather or nor they should try and bring one of the horse-things back with them on or not, and if so how they were going to accomplish that task.
Buffy tuned them out and kept walking until something inside one of the smaller properties suddenly lit up when she came up alongside it. Uh oh, she thought to herself. Over by the scientists something beeped.
"Dr. McKay, there's something over here that lit up when I came close to it." Just on the edge of her hearing she heard the now unmistakable sound of hooves, this time in a gallop rather than a walk. "And Colonel Sheppard, there are more unicorns coming. I don't think they liked me coming near this particular ruin."
She focused her hearing specifically on the sound of hooves and tried to count how many there were this time. It was made more difficult by the much larger number. In the meantime both McKay and Draum had come over and started messing with what turned out to be the machine that gave of the mysterious signal while they both made a running commentary which went miles over her head.
"Who cares? Turn it off! I'm pretty sure it's what's attracting the unicorns and making them charge us, and this time there's at least a dozen of them!" The last part caught the attention of all three officers and they immediately began surveying the edge of the woods again while readying their P-90's.
Dr. McKay actually listened to her this time and began looking for an off switch or the Ancient version of it at least. Judging by the incessant stream of words he didn't have much luck, and when the horses were a couple of minutes away she went over to Teyla, Ronon, and Laura who were standing right inside their established perimeter.
It proved to be a good idea to be there as there were a lot more than just one dozen, instead there were closer to fifty and they were all out to kill them. Sheppard, Lorne, Cadmam, Ronon, and Teyla were all shooting at the alien creatures while Buffy used her Scythe to behead them as she danced on the left side of the military half of their combined teams. There were only four left when she heard the whoop of success from Dr. Draum, and just like that the last few unicorns became docile. Before anyone could really register what had happened they turned and galloped back into the forest. Left behind were six very confused people, who turned to the two geeks for answers.
However it wouldn't be for another two days that they would get a proper explanation.
Rodney McKay was naturally the one who found the answer. "Remember the Flagisallus?"
A raised eyebrow from Sheppard and he drawled, "As in your friend Sam the not-whale? Yes, he and his buddies made quite the impression on all of us."
"Yes, yes. Turns out that the Ancients tried their little experiment with echo location on the Unicorns first. It failed, but they ended up becoming the guardians of something that is apparently hidden somewhere in the ruins. We need to find out what it is. Especially if it's ZedPM's."
And just like that team Sheppard had sniped the mission from Lorne's team, but Buffy didn't really mind. She knew there were other, more important things coming than murderous not-horses controlled by a long-dead species of human predecessors.