Fic recs ahoy
Oh my god I can’t believe I forgot to post about this, I was so excited about it: people, WE HAVE A TRAIN! A real, honest to god train station, a twelve minute drive from my house, with a beautiful, clean train that can take you to the airport and to Tel Aviv in half an hour, a train, and I cannot emphasize this enough, which is NOT A BUS. We’re* a real city now. A movie theater last year, and now, a train It’s just… I choke up just thinking about it.
(Of course, it would have been much more convenient had they opened the station when they were supposed to, which would have been when I was still in the army and could have used the train twice a week to get to my base in less than five hours, but still. Better late than never.)
In honor of the train, which is a great form of transportation, just like, say, a spaceship - I bring you recs of Stargate/Firefly crossovers, 6 SGA, 6 SG-1, which have been popping up all over. (I am so smooth with the transitions, I know!)
In no particular order, and with lots of extensive quotes:
SGA/Firefly crossovers:
Let's Be Bad Guys by kellifer_fic - PG-13, John/Rodney, fusion AU. Captain John Sheppard and his crew look for a new mechanic. Short, cute, funny, and a generally fun read.
Quote: John looks up and spots Ronon on the gangway, looking annoyed. “I have a client at our next port and my shuttle smells like a farm,” he grumbles, looking accusingly at the gathered livestock.
“I thought your clients would be used to earthy odours,” John says with a wry grin and Ronon rolls his eyes.
“No more cows!”
“Do you think I wanted to be a cattle rustler when I grew up?” John snaps, flinging his hands up. “I apologise if what we’re currently stealing gets in the way of your man-whoring.”
“Why do you always qualify it like that?” Ronon asks, sounding curious. “You could just say whoring.”
Walk Out of the World by Martha Wilson (ltlj ) - PG-13, gen. River and Kaylee meet a group of travelers, River POV. Lovely characterizations, seeing River’s impressions of the SGA team, and dialogue.
Quote: "We'll wait them out," the leader (Major) says. He's standing in the center of the ship, one hand braced on the rack overhead, the other on the gun that hangs around his neck. He's a solitary hunter, a big cat that leads a wolf pack, beautiful and lethal and all twisty contradictions. He's watching the sensor screens, the closed ramp of the little ship, and River and Kaylee, all at once while seeming to watch nothing.
"They aren't Alliance," River tells Kaylee, because the uniforms make Kaylee wonder, though it makes Kaylee feel better that there are other women here. One is another lovely predator, pack-mate to the others, wearing the gray and black that symbolizes that, and the surface of her mind is a well of calm stillness with the loss and pain and anger underneath. The other is small like River, wearing the blue and tan of the to-be-protected, and she's beautiful, like a flower carved out of ivory, all intricate layers woven with delicate precision, and her head is full of numbers and time as well.
Just Another Waveform Collapse (The Shorthand Epic Remix) by queenzulu - PG, team gen. The SGA team wind up on one of the Firefly planets - funny, awesome, in character, and did I mention funny? But it’s queenzulu, so that goes without saying.
Quote: John tells the jumper to stay cloaked, pulls on his sunglasses, and leaves a reassuring hand on his P90 as he steps out onto the moon's surface. It's hot, a dry heat, and underneath his tac vest he's sweating already. Dust puffs up from every step he takes. About half a football field away there's a collection of sorry-looking wood-framed buildings, gray and sand-scoured. Outside, a scrawny horse has been tied up to a hitching post.
"Think I took a wrong turn at the Clint Eastwood movie set?" John asks. Ronon and Teyla share a glance that silently accuses him of being hopelessly Earth-centric again.
A tumbleweed rolls past John's feet, skidding along in the light wind. He and Rodney watch it go.
"I just hope there's room enough in this town for the all of us," Rodney says.
in remembrance bear by siriaeve - gen, fusion AU, mostly John. Five ways John celebrated Unification Day. Interesting takes on John’s possible participation in the war; slower and more melancholy than most of the other recs here.
The Big Bang and Everything After by cgb- PG, Rodney/River-ish. Rodney is cryogenically frozen, and wakes up on Serenity. River POV with a really nice River voice, and Rodney’s written well as well. I liked the theoretical physics philosophizing; it was just the Rodney/River that creeped me out a bit, because I can’t see River paired up with anyone. But if you don’t mind that, you’ll probably like it.
Quote: "What are you doing?" he says.
"Mian tiao," she says. "I've found the formula."
"So I see..." He rubs his chin and nods, and then his eyes go wide. "This is incredible. What's this?" He points to a symbol, a picture of a hand. He doesn't wait for her explanation. "No, wait - what's this?" He points to two curved lines.
"Noodles," she says. "Mian tiao."
"Noodles?" he says. "This equation - this formula - is for the critical mass of a traversable wormhole, a stargate wormhole, no less. Your end result is noodles?"
"Gravity,' she says. "Turns you into noodles if you don't get it right."
Raiders of the Seven Systems by Martha Wilson - PG-13, gen. I don’t usually rec WIPs, but I just love this one so much, I can’t not. It’s an AU where John and his team, which includes Zoe, are space pirates, and they rescue Rodney and Sam Carter from the Genii, and there’s so much interesting backstory that’s still unfolding I can’t possibly describe it, but every time there’s an update I am FILLED with GLEE. It’s got perfect characterization, and suspense, and it’s funny, and John, who - kind of like the same author’s Retrograde John - has been hurt before, and will take his damn time in trusting any new people. Anyway, it’s awesome and plotty, and you should totally read it. ETA: story is now finished!
Quote: The woman hesitated, looking from Teyla to John, the wariness turning to puzzled disbelief. "I'm Samantha Carter, that's Rodney McKay. Where'd you get the P90s?"
It was John's turn to stare as shock washed over him in a cold wave. He felt like he had been punched in the gut. This is not happening. "You're from Earth."
"How do you--" McKay stared, then pointed accusingly at him. "You're from Earth!"
John was aware of Teyla's gaze, startled and concerned, of Ronon shifting uneasily at his post in the corridor. His throat closed up and for a moment he just couldn't react.
Carter stepped closer to the field, her expression caught between incredulous and intrigued. "Who are you? How did you get here?"
John shook off the shock, putting it aside for later. His voice came out harsh and angry as he said, "That doesn't matter. You want out of here?"
McKay's eyes narrowed, and he exchanged a look with Carter. He said, "You're pirates."
John had thought that was obvious. "Well, yeah."
McKay waved a hand disparagingly. "So here we are, captured by pirates, and you want us to come with you so we can be captured by yet more pirates? That's not exactly a step up."
SG-1/Firefly crossovers
Pyxis (the mariner's compass): Lost At Sea by blueflamingo - NC-17, Mal/Daniel. Cam, Sam and Daniel get picked up by Serenity, and try to find their way back home. Now, I usually think Mal is one of the truly unslashable characters out there, but here, it works.
Quote: "If you've got a better idea, I'm all ears and then some, and I can't speak for you, but I'd like to get back to Earth before either we're killed in the galaxy-wide war about to start in this timeline, or Earth is destroyed in the galaxy-wide war already raging in our timeline. The only way to do *that* is to get back to the one planet with a stargate, and I'm not seeing a lot of people offering to take us there for the pittance we actually have, so unless you've got another suggestion, I say we pay the nice people with the transport ship and get off this rock."
Daniel's decided that he prefers Mitchell mostly zoned out on the medicine Sam got hold of for him. It's a lot less stressful than his oddly chosen moments of coherence, even if they do prove he's slowly recovering; he doesn't want to know how Mitchell managed to get space flu in the two months they've been stranded.
"I didn't say I had a better idea," he says calmly. "That doesn't mean this isn't a bad one though."
Neither Here Nor There by Six Before Lunch - PG-13, gen. A surreal, dreamlike fic, the kind I usually don’t like but did this time. Set during Abyss. Daniel guides Jack every time he lives; River’s the one who guides him every time he dies.
Quote: "Every time you come back it gets harder."
Jack wipes his forehead with the back of his hand.
"You need to stop coming here."
"I'm working on it," Jack says. "Not getting anywhere, but, well, you know how it goes."
"Work harder," River says, sounding exasperated. Petulant. She looks away, out across the landscape. "I can't keep him safe much longer," she says and Jack knows she isn't talking to him.
Tiān Shĭ by neonhummingbird - PG, gen, both ensembles, a hint of Zoe/Cam which I absolutely loved. S10 SG-1 get stranded in the Firefly ‘verse, and try to find their way home. Beautiful mythic backstory, and great interaction between the characters.
Quote: ...And the angels, having finished their work in this world, went beyond to another, leaving only the stone circle to mark their passing. Someday, so the legend goes, when mankind has the knowledge and the goodness, the circle will open again, and man will step through to the land of the angels.
No, River, I don't know where that land is. Mortals aren't meant to just yet. Well, I suppose we'll be shown the way when the time is right. Yes, possibly by angels -- from the skies, or from among us. Why yes, Kaylee, I do believe there are angels among us. In fact, I believe I'm talking to two of them right now.
the sound of one hand clapping by iphignia939 - PG, gen. Ascended!Wash, with a great Wash voice, and a cool and original blend of the two fandoms. Short, sweet and touching.
Quote: It’s not so bad, really. There’s a lot of boring talk about enlightenment, but no one’s trying to kill him, and it beats a spike in the chest, so boring enlightenment talk it is.
”I just wish I could send them some word,” Wash says one day. “*Something*. A wave, even. ‘Hey, not really dead, so buck up, little campers.’”
”They don’t like that much,” Daniel tells him. He’s a lot like Simon, too, if Simon was a little less fussy and more prone to wearing cream. “Of course, as far as I can tell, They aren’t big on contact with lesser species at all.”
”Humans aren’t a lesser species,” Wash says, feeling affronted.
Daniel snorts. “Try telling *Them* that.”
As Wont To Do by cherryice - PG, Daniel/Inara. Inara’s leaving Serenity, except… she’s not. The fic starts off with some sweet Serenity moments and moves on to this lovely, quiet pairing.
Quote: “Tell me about your planet,” he says.
She can’t remember much -- dust in the air and red sunsets, the fact that they’d never been able to get carrots to grow -- but he seems starved for information, so she tells him as much as she can.
He wants to know about the Alliance and Blue Sun and cultural differences, and similar mores between disparate planets; like he’s starved for information, like he’s never walked the core, like he’s four years old and it’s killing him that there is so much he doesn’t know.
Raiders of the Seven Systems by Martha Wilson - see rec above. Currently only has Sam from SG-1, but she says there'll be more characters later on.
*We're = where my parents live, not Tel Aviv. We're not that primitive :-)
(Of course, it would have been much more convenient had they opened the station when they were supposed to, which would have been when I was still in the army and could have used the train twice a week to get to my base in less than five hours, but still. Better late than never.)
In honor of the train, which is a great form of transportation, just like, say, a spaceship - I bring you recs of Stargate/Firefly crossovers, 6 SGA, 6 SG-1, which have been popping up all over. (I am so smooth with the transitions, I know!)
In no particular order, and with lots of extensive quotes:
SGA/Firefly crossovers:
Let's Be Bad Guys by kellifer_fic - PG-13, John/Rodney, fusion AU. Captain John Sheppard and his crew look for a new mechanic. Short, cute, funny, and a generally fun read.
Quote: John looks up and spots Ronon on the gangway, looking annoyed. “I have a client at our next port and my shuttle smells like a farm,” he grumbles, looking accusingly at the gathered livestock.
“I thought your clients would be used to earthy odours,” John says with a wry grin and Ronon rolls his eyes.
“No more cows!”
“Do you think I wanted to be a cattle rustler when I grew up?” John snaps, flinging his hands up. “I apologise if what we’re currently stealing gets in the way of your man-whoring.”
“Why do you always qualify it like that?” Ronon asks, sounding curious. “You could just say whoring.”
Walk Out of the World by Martha Wilson (ltlj ) - PG-13, gen. River and Kaylee meet a group of travelers, River POV. Lovely characterizations, seeing River’s impressions of the SGA team, and dialogue.
Quote: "We'll wait them out," the leader (Major) says. He's standing in the center of the ship, one hand braced on the rack overhead, the other on the gun that hangs around his neck. He's a solitary hunter, a big cat that leads a wolf pack, beautiful and lethal and all twisty contradictions. He's watching the sensor screens, the closed ramp of the little ship, and River and Kaylee, all at once while seeming to watch nothing.
"They aren't Alliance," River tells Kaylee, because the uniforms make Kaylee wonder, though it makes Kaylee feel better that there are other women here. One is another lovely predator, pack-mate to the others, wearing the gray and black that symbolizes that, and the surface of her mind is a well of calm stillness with the loss and pain and anger underneath. The other is small like River, wearing the blue and tan of the to-be-protected, and she's beautiful, like a flower carved out of ivory, all intricate layers woven with delicate precision, and her head is full of numbers and time as well.
Just Another Waveform Collapse (The Shorthand Epic Remix) by queenzulu - PG, team gen. The SGA team wind up on one of the Firefly planets - funny, awesome, in character, and did I mention funny? But it’s queenzulu, so that goes without saying.
Quote: John tells the jumper to stay cloaked, pulls on his sunglasses, and leaves a reassuring hand on his P90 as he steps out onto the moon's surface. It's hot, a dry heat, and underneath his tac vest he's sweating already. Dust puffs up from every step he takes. About half a football field away there's a collection of sorry-looking wood-framed buildings, gray and sand-scoured. Outside, a scrawny horse has been tied up to a hitching post.
"Think I took a wrong turn at the Clint Eastwood movie set?" John asks. Ronon and Teyla share a glance that silently accuses him of being hopelessly Earth-centric again.
A tumbleweed rolls past John's feet, skidding along in the light wind. He and Rodney watch it go.
"I just hope there's room enough in this town for the all of us," Rodney says.
in remembrance bear by siriaeve - gen, fusion AU, mostly John. Five ways John celebrated Unification Day. Interesting takes on John’s possible participation in the war; slower and more melancholy than most of the other recs here.
The Big Bang and Everything After by cgb- PG, Rodney/River-ish. Rodney is cryogenically frozen, and wakes up on Serenity. River POV with a really nice River voice, and Rodney’s written well as well. I liked the theoretical physics philosophizing; it was just the Rodney/River that creeped me out a bit, because I can’t see River paired up with anyone. But if you don’t mind that, you’ll probably like it.
Quote: "What are you doing?" he says.
"Mian tiao," she says. "I've found the formula."
"So I see..." He rubs his chin and nods, and then his eyes go wide. "This is incredible. What's this?" He points to a symbol, a picture of a hand. He doesn't wait for her explanation. "No, wait - what's this?" He points to two curved lines.
"Noodles," she says. "Mian tiao."
"Noodles?" he says. "This equation - this formula - is for the critical mass of a traversable wormhole, a stargate wormhole, no less. Your end result is noodles?"
"Gravity,' she says. "Turns you into noodles if you don't get it right."
Raiders of the Seven Systems by Martha Wilson - PG-13, gen. I don’t usually rec WIPs, but I just love this one so much, I can’t not. It’s an AU where John and his team, which includes Zoe, are space pirates, and they rescue Rodney and Sam Carter from the Genii, and there’s so much interesting backstory that’s still unfolding I can’t possibly describe it, but every time there’s an update I am FILLED with GLEE. It’s got perfect characterization, and suspense, and it’s funny, and John, who - kind of like the same author’s Retrograde John - has been hurt before, and will take his damn time in trusting any new people. Anyway, it’s awesome and plotty, and you should totally read it. ETA: story is now finished!
Quote: The woman hesitated, looking from Teyla to John, the wariness turning to puzzled disbelief. "I'm Samantha Carter, that's Rodney McKay. Where'd you get the P90s?"
It was John's turn to stare as shock washed over him in a cold wave. He felt like he had been punched in the gut. This is not happening. "You're from Earth."
"How do you--" McKay stared, then pointed accusingly at him. "You're from Earth!"
John was aware of Teyla's gaze, startled and concerned, of Ronon shifting uneasily at his post in the corridor. His throat closed up and for a moment he just couldn't react.
Carter stepped closer to the field, her expression caught between incredulous and intrigued. "Who are you? How did you get here?"
John shook off the shock, putting it aside for later. His voice came out harsh and angry as he said, "That doesn't matter. You want out of here?"
McKay's eyes narrowed, and he exchanged a look with Carter. He said, "You're pirates."
John had thought that was obvious. "Well, yeah."
McKay waved a hand disparagingly. "So here we are, captured by pirates, and you want us to come with you so we can be captured by yet more pirates? That's not exactly a step up."
SG-1/Firefly crossovers
Pyxis (the mariner's compass): Lost At Sea by blueflamingo - NC-17, Mal/Daniel. Cam, Sam and Daniel get picked up by Serenity, and try to find their way back home. Now, I usually think Mal is one of the truly unslashable characters out there, but here, it works.
Quote: "If you've got a better idea, I'm all ears and then some, and I can't speak for you, but I'd like to get back to Earth before either we're killed in the galaxy-wide war about to start in this timeline, or Earth is destroyed in the galaxy-wide war already raging in our timeline. The only way to do *that* is to get back to the one planet with a stargate, and I'm not seeing a lot of people offering to take us there for the pittance we actually have, so unless you've got another suggestion, I say we pay the nice people with the transport ship and get off this rock."
Daniel's decided that he prefers Mitchell mostly zoned out on the medicine Sam got hold of for him. It's a lot less stressful than his oddly chosen moments of coherence, even if they do prove he's slowly recovering; he doesn't want to know how Mitchell managed to get space flu in the two months they've been stranded.
"I didn't say I had a better idea," he says calmly. "That doesn't mean this isn't a bad one though."
Neither Here Nor There by Six Before Lunch - PG-13, gen. A surreal, dreamlike fic, the kind I usually don’t like but did this time. Set during Abyss. Daniel guides Jack every time he lives; River’s the one who guides him every time he dies.
Quote: "Every time you come back it gets harder."
Jack wipes his forehead with the back of his hand.
"You need to stop coming here."
"I'm working on it," Jack says. "Not getting anywhere, but, well, you know how it goes."
"Work harder," River says, sounding exasperated. Petulant. She looks away, out across the landscape. "I can't keep him safe much longer," she says and Jack knows she isn't talking to him.
Tiān Shĭ by neonhummingbird - PG, gen, both ensembles, a hint of Zoe/Cam which I absolutely loved. S10 SG-1 get stranded in the Firefly ‘verse, and try to find their way home. Beautiful mythic backstory, and great interaction between the characters.
Quote: ...And the angels, having finished their work in this world, went beyond to another, leaving only the stone circle to mark their passing. Someday, so the legend goes, when mankind has the knowledge and the goodness, the circle will open again, and man will step through to the land of the angels.
No, River, I don't know where that land is. Mortals aren't meant to just yet. Well, I suppose we'll be shown the way when the time is right. Yes, possibly by angels -- from the skies, or from among us. Why yes, Kaylee, I do believe there are angels among us. In fact, I believe I'm talking to two of them right now.
the sound of one hand clapping by iphignia939 - PG, gen. Ascended!Wash, with a great Wash voice, and a cool and original blend of the two fandoms. Short, sweet and touching.
Quote: It’s not so bad, really. There’s a lot of boring talk about enlightenment, but no one’s trying to kill him, and it beats a spike in the chest, so boring enlightenment talk it is.
”I just wish I could send them some word,” Wash says one day. “*Something*. A wave, even. ‘Hey, not really dead, so buck up, little campers.’”
”They don’t like that much,” Daniel tells him. He’s a lot like Simon, too, if Simon was a little less fussy and more prone to wearing cream. “Of course, as far as I can tell, They aren’t big on contact with lesser species at all.”
”Humans aren’t a lesser species,” Wash says, feeling affronted.
Daniel snorts. “Try telling *Them* that.”
As Wont To Do by cherryice - PG, Daniel/Inara. Inara’s leaving Serenity, except… she’s not. The fic starts off with some sweet Serenity moments and moves on to this lovely, quiet pairing.
Quote: “Tell me about your planet,” he says.
She can’t remember much -- dust in the air and red sunsets, the fact that they’d never been able to get carrots to grow -- but he seems starved for information, so she tells him as much as she can.
He wants to know about the Alliance and Blue Sun and cultural differences, and similar mores between disparate planets; like he’s starved for information, like he’s never walked the core, like he’s four years old and it’s killing him that there is so much he doesn’t know.
Raiders of the Seven Systems by Martha Wilson - see rec above. Currently only has Sam from SG-1, but she says there'll be more characters later on.
*We're = where my parents live, not Tel Aviv. We're not that primitive :-)