By Ear, by Tallulah Rasa (PG)
Rec Category: Team
Pairing: none
Categories: team, gen, Jack O'Neill, Samantha Carter, Daniel Jackson, Teal'c, humor, friendship, episode related
Warnings: none
Author on LJ: unknown
Author's Website: To Explore the Universe and Eat Pie
Link: By Ear, with feedback here.
Why This Must Be Read: Full and utterly gleeful disclaimer: this is a brand new Tallulah Rasa fic, and she wrote it for me for the sg1teamficathon! Expect shameless squeeing ahead. :)
By Ear is something I thought was no longer possible: a fresh take on an episode tag for Shades of Grey. Jack rejects all of Hammond’s suggestions for team-building or MacKenzie sessions, and takes his team on a supposedly quiet, peaceful mission instead. Naturally, within seconds of going through the Gate, the team finds themselves separated from one another.
What follows is a fascinating exercise in aural bonding, as the team coordinates through their radios and Jack makes the uncomfortable discovery that his kids have managed to become a seamless unit in his absence. There’s delightful snark and lovely characterization, and twist upon twist, and teamy goodness, and Jack finding his place once again - and all of it in Tallulah Rasa’s marvelous style. Go and read this one. You’ll be glad that you did!
"Jack," Daniel said as soon as they were through the Gate to what was supposed to be a sunny, safe, naquadah-rich planet, but which instead was chilly and damp, as gloomily overcast as the opening scene of a horror movie, and shot through with a pervasive smell of unwashed socks, "I think you should-"
And then, before Jack could even get out a "Not now, Daniel!" there was a glow around the DHD, and then - nothing. Daniel just ...wasn't there. Jack turned in the dank half-light, trying to get a fix, opening his mouth to yell out, and in the space of that instant Sam suddenly wasn't there, and then Teal'c, too, vanished.
Jack was still turning, a shout caught in his throat, when he himself was no longer standing between the Gate and the DHD, but abruptly, inexplicably, somewhere else. Suddenly surrounded by a thick mist that clung to him like a living thing, Jack tried to do a standard recon. No gun, no pack, no supplies. No prickling at the back of his neck or in his gut, so no unfriendlies, either, lying in wait for his team. But, also…no team.
Peachy.