Breaking New Ground, by Redbyrd (PG)
Rec Category: Episode related
Pairing: none
Categories: episode related, gen, drama, original character, Nyan, Teal’c, Daniel Jackson
Warnings: none
Author on LJ: redbyrd_sgfic
Author's Website: Redbyrd's Stargate Fanfiction
Link: Breaking New Ground
Why This Must Be Read: Redbyrd is one of the best ep tag writers in the fandom. In Breaking New Ground, Redbyrd presents us with the events of New Ground, including some fascinating backstory and a satisfying epilogue, from Nyan’s point of view.
Nyan has always been a favorite minor character of mine; he showed courage, intelligence, self-honesty, and sacrifice - and, of course, he got our team home. In this excellent fic, Redbyrd not only explores Nyan’s personal history to give us some insight into Nyan’s character and determination, but also gives us the missing scenes to explain much of what happened within the confines of the episode itself.
Redbyrd and Episode Related always go hand-in-hand, and this story is no exception!
By the time he reached the cave, he was almost running. He'd been gone for hours. What if Teal'c tried to go out on his own? Movement inside the cave reassured him as he came in and stopped just inside the door to let his eyes adjust. Teal'c was still there, and seemed to be doing some kind of first aid, because he'd removed his shirt. But his hand... Nyan's eyes must be fooling him- it looked like Teal'c had his entire hand inside his chest.
As his eyes adjusted to the light, he felt a mingled wave of shock and revulsion. That wasn't a wound. The edges were smooth and bloodless and the hand fit far too easily inside. It was like nothing he had ever seen. "What are you doing?" Nothing human could do that. The stunning realization crashed down on him. "You're an alien."
Teal'c's voice was forbidding, "Come no further." He removed his hand from his chest, glistening with some sort of fluid, and pulled his shirt back on.
Nyan ignored the instruction to move closer. His brain was spinning. Not human. Not like us. Alien. Now Nyan wasn't sure what to think about the strangers. His voice rose to a near squeak. "Daniel said you were all human."
Whatever he was, Teal'c did not seem inclined to explain. "Speak of it no more."
"What are you?" There was no way that Nyan could leave it like this. Was it possible that Daniel and the others were also aliens? That this gateway was truly an alien device, but that humans had still arisen on Bedrosia as he had been taught.
The alien was donning his outer garments. Nyan wondered if perhaps he had violated some taboo against nudity. Since the aliens wore clothes, it seemed plausible that their culture would regard them similarly to his own. "As I have said, speak of it no more. I did not believe you would return."
Didn't think he would return? For the first time, it occurred to Nyan that he could have just gone back to town and tried to pretend it had never happened, or reported Teal'c to the security forces. Despite his fear, it had never occurred to him that he shouldn't help fix the mess he had helped to create.