Magnificent Desolation, by Abyssis (PG)
Rec Category: Jack and Sam friendship
Pairing: none
Categories: Jack and Sam friendship, Jack O'Neill, Samantha Carter, gen, episode related, pre-series, character study
Warnings: none
Author on LJ: abyssinia4077
Author's Website: Masterlist of Fanfiction
Link: Magnificent Desolation
Why This Must Be Read: I know that just about everyone has already read this incredible story. But if there's even a single fan who hasn't yet discovered Magnificent Desolation, then this rec is well worth it.
Abyssis lovingly, eloquently traces the history of space travel on Earth, and how it has intertwined with Sam and Jack's lives. She deftly weaves past events with show canon, showing us the unique bond that they share, with their love of flight and the stars that shine above them. This is the best kind of adult writing: penetrating, thought-provoking, satisfying, and beautiful.
If you are going to read just one Sam and Jack friendship fic, choose this one. You'll be moved to tears, and beyond.
Sam hadn’t forgotten NASA when she found herself in DC working on a top-secret project and she hadn’t forgotten when she transferred to Colorado and she hadn’t forgotten when she set foot on her first alien planet or her second or her third. She never forgot, but she did find something just as satisfying.
There was an irony somewhere that she’d been visiting alien planets for a year before she first boarded a spaceship and then she was too busy hiding from Jaffa and setting C-4 to really absorb the few times she could stop and take a breath near a window.
So it was understandable that when they were floating in the death gliders above Earth, she didn’t notice at first. Because she was still in mission-mode, trying to anticipate their next problem and deal with the current one and find some solution to get to where they had to be next and it’s not like Teal’c hadn’t seen this before (Teal’c, to whom television was a miracle and flying in space ships was old hat). Plus they’d just lost Daniel. Again.
So when Colonel O’Neill told her to look up it took her a minute to realize he wasn’t telling her to look and find a way out of this mess. He just wanted her to see.
Above her was the view she’d been dreaming of her entire life -- the Earth from above and the black void full of pinpricks of stars but mostly the Earth -- blue and green filling her vision. It was more amazing than she’d ever imagined as a kid, lying on a field beneath Orion and Cassiopeia, closing her eyes and dreaming she was flying.
For Teal’c and Bra’tac this was nothing new, but she’d seen the posters on O’Neill’s walls and the rocket models on his shelves and she knew he understood. She dared to think that if they died now, it wouldn’t be so bad. They’d saved Earth. And she’d seen this.
Pairing: none
Categories: Jack and Sam friendship, Jack O'Neill, Samantha Carter, gen, episode related, pre-series, character study
Warnings: none
Author on LJ: abyssinia4077
Author's Website: Masterlist of Fanfiction
Link: Magnificent Desolation
Why This Must Be Read: I know that just about everyone has already read this incredible story. But if there's even a single fan who hasn't yet discovered Magnificent Desolation, then this rec is well worth it.
Abyssis lovingly, eloquently traces the history of space travel on Earth, and how it has intertwined with Sam and Jack's lives. She deftly weaves past events with show canon, showing us the unique bond that they share, with their love of flight and the stars that shine above them. This is the best kind of adult writing: penetrating, thought-provoking, satisfying, and beautiful.
If you are going to read just one Sam and Jack friendship fic, choose this one. You'll be moved to tears, and beyond.
Sam hadn’t forgotten NASA when she found herself in DC working on a top-secret project and she hadn’t forgotten when she transferred to Colorado and she hadn’t forgotten when she set foot on her first alien planet or her second or her third. She never forgot, but she did find something just as satisfying.
There was an irony somewhere that she’d been visiting alien planets for a year before she first boarded a spaceship and then she was too busy hiding from Jaffa and setting C-4 to really absorb the few times she could stop and take a breath near a window.
So it was understandable that when they were floating in the death gliders above Earth, she didn’t notice at first. Because she was still in mission-mode, trying to anticipate their next problem and deal with the current one and find some solution to get to where they had to be next and it’s not like Teal’c hadn’t seen this before (Teal’c, to whom television was a miracle and flying in space ships was old hat). Plus they’d just lost Daniel. Again.
So when Colonel O’Neill told her to look up it took her a minute to realize he wasn’t telling her to look and find a way out of this mess. He just wanted her to see.
Above her was the view she’d been dreaming of her entire life -- the Earth from above and the black void full of pinpricks of stars but mostly the Earth -- blue and green filling her vision. It was more amazing than she’d ever imagined as a kid, lying on a field beneath Orion and Cassiopeia, closing her eyes and dreaming she was flying.
For Teal’c and Bra’tac this was nothing new, but she’d seen the posters on O’Neill’s walls and the rocket models on his shelves and she knew he understood. She dared to think that if they died now, it wouldn’t be so bad. They’d saved Earth. And she’d seen this.