Yesterday I posted a couple of snippets from an AU
Cameron Mitchell: Bounty Hunter. I started thinking about backstory. How they met. This is the result, and wow. I actually kind of like it! Comments/crit most welcome.
Men of Action
Teal'c/Cameron AU
NC-17
Words: 2120
Summary: Invasion. Rebellion. Jaffa traitor. Air Force guy.
The first time Cameron meets him, it's through a contact of a contact of a friend. Someone who'd let it be known that maybe he had something Cameron might be interested in. Not exactly reliable, but that's what things come down to, these days.
They meet inside the walls of a burned-out building in a blackout zone. It's past curfew, and Cameron's taking a risk. Unlike the Jaffa traitor, he doesn't have armour he can retreat behind.
The first few minutes are tense, but eventually Cameron figures the guy is on the level. Still, he's got to ask, "Why're you doing this? Don't buy the god act?"
His voice is like stone, smooth and hard, when he answers, "Apophis made mistakes; I began to doubt his claims of godhood. My people might be trained to serve, but we are not stupid or foolish."
Cameron looks around him, slowly, with exaggerated care. "Then how come you're alone?"
*
It takes weeks before Cameron brings the Jaffa back to the others. He's got to be sure. Instead, the two of them work on a series of more and more complex raids.
Teal'c comes through every time. There's never any nonsense. He just does what needs to be done, and covers Cameron's ass more than a few times.
In the off hours, he talks about Goa'uld biology, strategy and technology. It's the first time Cameron had ever heard of a Stargate.
"There's one here?"
"It has long been hidden."
It isn't a struggle to remember the details - war between Apophis and another one, Ra. Alliance between Apophis and others, splitting up the different continents. But ultimately, he doesn't care about the politics of it all. Names don't make a difference. The details won't change the big picture. Earth's got aliens masquerading as gods.
Finally, after they've set charges on the latest operations base, Cameron holds out his hand. It takes Teal'c a few moments, but eventually he reaches out, grasps Cameron's hand.
"Welcome to the resistance."
*
Henderson comes and sits by him, their first night back. Teal'c's off doing his meditation thing, and she just sidles up to him, and says, "It's a mistake, Major."
Former reservist, Henderson, and she always calls him Major.
"He's an asset."
"He's a liability."
She's not the only one who thinks so. Others won't look at him, some of them spit when he walks by. It's fixing up to be a real mess. Cameron points at his shoulder, at the staff weapon wound that's a week old. "Without him there, this would've been lower. Wouldn't have come back."
She shrugs. "Maybe it wouldn't have happened if he hadn't been there."
"He's staying. We need all the help we can get." But he isn't surprised when, the next morning, she's gone.
*
The first time Teal'c asks Cameron about himself, he cuts right to the chase. Guy never minces words.
"Before Apophis conquered your people, who were you?"
Cameron looks up from his tinned beans and shrugs. "Air force. Pilot."
Teal'c nods, asks, "How did you escape the initial strikes?"
Apophis had been surgical in his precision. The armed forces of the US, of Canada, they're in tatters. Cameron guesses it's the same across the planet. He holds out hope for some of the Pakistani and Afghani armies. The mountain terrain doesn't yield people easily. "I was on leave."
That's all he's going to say about it. Teal'c doesn't need details; Cameron doesn't need to dwell on what he's lost.
*
The first time Cameron wants to touch Teal'c, something holds him back. He's keyed up, it's after a raid, and no one died. He should be feeling calm, triumph, but instead, he's itchy with something. Anticipation.
He's been eyeing Teal'c for months now, in a half-assed way; not thinking too hard about it. Teal'c knows it, Cameron's sure. But something keeps Cameron from saying anything, doing anything.
It's quiet, the others mostly off in their groups, or couples. Raids like these, they don't come often. It's something to celebrate. Cameron looks at Teal'c in the half-light of emergency storm lights. Teal'c says nothing, just stares back at him. Cameron finds himself standing, without thinking, and walking away to the far corner, the pile of blankets and sleeping bags, where he sometimes sleeps.
Teal'c follows him.
Part of him remembers the days of the past, how something like this might start with kisses, laughter. Small gasps, eager hands, and the frisson of excitement at bending the regs a little.
Regs.
Cameron shakes his head at the memories, and pulls of his shirt. He looks down, tugs at his belt, and when he looks back up, Teal'c's shirt is off.
Cameron freezes. "Uh -"
Teal'c isn't stupid. "The symbiote."
He should've remembered. By now, they all know about the Jaffa. About their weaknesses and strengths. "Yeah."
"It makes you uncomfortable."
Hell yeah. There's something about thinking about giving a guy a blow job, and being so close to a baby monster. Or rubbing up against him, wondering if the thing's going to come out at any minute, take a chunk right out of Cameron.
"It is not yet mature. It will not emerge."
It's not the comfort it should be. This time, when Cameron walks away, Teal'c doesn't follow.
*
The resistance is loosely organized, and Cameron knows they won't succeed on their own. "We need the Jaffa," he says, at one of the meetings. Others have come from far distances. "We need to turn them."
With Teal'c at his side, he feels like maybe he's getting attention.
"They're slaves," one of the others says, a woman. Dark hair, hard eyes. "They won't rebel."
Cameron points at Teal'c. "Look at my man Teal'c here. He left on his own."
He knows what they're thinking. Teal'c is a plant, a Trojan horse. Cameron's been taken in. They haven't seen what Teal'c can do, what he's done for Cameron and his little group. "You wanna be suspicious and insular? Or you want to get the Goa'uld off our planet?"
After, he figures he's convinced some of them. Others go on their ways, but some stay behind.
Two days later, Teal'c goes on one of his fact-finding, Jaffa co-opting, missions.
He's gone for weeks.
When he comes back, he isn't smiling. Not that he ever does.
*
The first time it actually happens, Cameron isn't thinking at all. He's just been shoved down, out of the way, and Teal'c's used that funky staff weapon of his to finish off the Jaffa shooting at them. Then, he collapses to the ground, breathing hard.
"You hit?"
"No." He's just lying prone, taking a breather, maybe. But that isn't Teal'c's way at all, and Cameron wonders. Wonders if one of the Jaffa lying nearby was someone Teal'c once knew.
And before he thinks about it, Cameron just shifts up a little, then rolls on top of Teal'c. He's tugging at Teal'c's pants, popping open buttons and thanking a god he doesn't believe in that Teal'c had left the armour behind today.
Teal'c puts his hand on Cameron's back, and Cameron grinds down a little, gasping, then gets his hand right inside Teal'c's pants. Teal'c's cock is big, just like Cameron knew it would be, and in moments it's leaking, getting Cameron's hand slick, slippery. Oh yeah. Teal'c is grunting.
Cameron grins, levers himself up on his free hand a little, and looks down at Teal'c. His eyes are closed, his head tilted back, his face tense. Cameron can't help himself. He pulls away, slides down, and licks once, twice, then wraps his mouth around Teal'c's cock.
It's a stretch, and Teal'c tastes musky and hot, and they both are in real need of a bath. But it's perfect, Teal'c underneath him, one hand pressing hard into his shoulder. He figured it'd be different, with an alien. Taste different, feel different. But it isn't. It's just how Cameron remembers it can be, hot and desperate and bitter flavours and smooth skin against his tongue.
He pulls back, works the head a little, reacquainting his lips with the shape of cock. He shifts so he's straddling Teal'c's leg, and when he grinds down, he grunts. Teal'c thrusts up, Cameron swallows, and they set up a rhythm that works for him in so many ways.
It doesn't take long. He gets caught up in the scent and feel of it all, in the need to concentrate, focus, keep that rhythm steady, fast. Briefly, he wonders why he waited so long, but the thought gets pushed away the next time he slides his mouth back down. Cameron comes first, and now he's not just in need of a bath. He's going to need clean clothes ASAP.
Teal'c won't have the same problem. When he comes, Cameron just swallows and swallows. Something inside him is grinning.
Teal'c had kept his shirt pulled down the entire time. Cameron hadn't even touched it, not even the hem.
As Cameron pulls back, wipes at his mouth, Teal'c says, "We must go."
Yeah, no telling when someone might come along, check on the last patrol group.
*
Sometimes, Cameron wonders what he'll do when it's all over. He hasn't ever exactly been the settling down type. And rebuilding cities, rebuilding politics - so not his thing. Man of action, you might say.
"Course, no guaranteeing I'll get out of this alive," he says to Teal'c, who's doing his pillar of stone thing as Cameron babbles on. "So, maybe it's best not to think about it. Just focus on the now."
"Indeed," Teal'c says, without opening his eyes.
*
Then one day, someone walks into their camp. Even as Cameron's cursing at being found, he's noticing that the visitor isn't human. Might be dressed in human clothes, but he's fooling no one.
For one thing, he's too clean. Too healthy. And there's something about his walk. And then there's the way the Teal'c tenses right up.
Some of the group have melted into the trees, others are watching with wary, alert eyes.
Cameron's half-expecting to hear that voice, the one that sounds disembodied. Goa'uld voice. Instead, when the guy opens his mouth, he sounds perfectly human. "I am a representative of the Tok'ra." Cameron's got no clue what that might mean. But Teal'c relaxes the smallest amount, almost enough for Cameron to lower his gun.
"Cam Mitchell. Snake killer."
The Tok'ra smiles. It looks forced.
*
In the end, it seems more like an anticlimax. It's a rout, essentially, enabled by months of careful sabotage and planning. The whole thing was goaded along by the Tok'ra. The fighting, the action, it's mostly spearheaded by about a third of the Jaffa. Turns out Teal'c hadn't been the only one to notice problems with Apophis and the other Goa'uld. They'd just been lacking incentive, a leader, and a coherent way to communicate with each other.
Teal'c goes to fight with them. Cameron never expected any less.
It's the Jaffa armies that take the heaviest casualties; though, that's partially because humans aren't exactly thick on the ground these days. Selective thinning of the population, Teal'c had said. To encourage certain traits. Subservience, mostly, and physical attractiveness.
So after, it isn't a real surprise that there aren't exactly huge parties. People mostly fall where they were standing, just hitting the ground, amazed that they're still alive.
After the local fighting ends, after they have control of the ground, Cameron hunkers down and waits. Could be days, weeks even, before things quiet down all over.
Still, he doesn't quite expect to see Teal'c again. He doesn't expect to see him walk over, slowly, and say, "Apophis is dead."
Cameron grins, cocks his hand up to the sky, and pretends like he's shooting. Teal'c just raises an eyebrow, swaying a little on his feet. Some days, it must take a lot to put on that invulnerable Jaffa act. Cameron pretends like he's buying it, and says, "T, my man. Right out of the sky." And then he lies back, sleeps for the first time in days.
The next morning, they set out one of Cameron's old hide-outs, a mostly intact house off a side highway. They move at a slow limp. It takes days, but they've got the time.
When they get there, the house is thick with dust - Cameron hasn't been here for a year, at least. He's surprised it hasn’t been infested with local animals. But it's quiet, and there are food stores, and a well with a hand pump. Cameron hits the nearest bed as fast as he can. Teal'c heads off to another room, does his meditation-communing-with-the-baby-snake thing.
As Cameron drifts to sleep, he wonders what's next.