(Firefly/SG-1) Once Was Quiet for gladdecease
Title: Once Was Quiet
Author: infinimato
Fandoms: Firefly/Stargate SG-1
Characters: Derrial Book, Hoban Washburne, Malcolm Reynolds, Zoe Washburne; Daniel Jackson, Jack O’Neill, Samantha Carter, Teal’c
Pairings: None
Rating: G
Word count: 4000
Spoilers: Goes through 7th-ish season of Stargate SG-1, set before the BDM for Firefly.
Warnings: No tribbles were harmed in the making of this work
Disclaimer: <#include std-disclaimer.h>
A/N: Thanks to jaune_chat for the beta. Remaining problems are all my fault. Further notes at the end.
Summary: Nobody had heard from the colony for a while, but now business brings them there.
“You sure this is where we were supposed to meet up, sir?” Zoe kept her hands on her rifle, ready for anything. The complete quiet was bothering her.
“That’s what the wave said, Zoe,” said Mal, looking like he was picking up on her tension, or maybe had a bit of his own. “Must say, though, the quiet is a mite unnerving.”
There was no birdsong, or buzzing of insects. No calling of animals remote in the hills or in the forest. They day was clear, the sun was shining, but nothing flew in the sky.
They’d left Wash and Book just inside the forest, in case something was weird was up. They were on the edge of a clearing. Serenity was on the other edge of the forest, near the top of a hill. This was a new client, Mal didn’t want to take chances. He’d weighed the odds of Jayne doing something stupid left on the ship with the odds of the client being a problem. It had been a tough call.
“Why this planet?” Wash had kept arguing. “Nobody heard from the colony in years. Suddenly we get a message from someone there? Something is strange.”
“Gotta admit my husband has a point,” Zoe had put in. “The whole thing makes me kind of twitchy.”
But, as Mal kept pointing out, they were low on cash and fuel, and they needed the deal. Mal’s argument won.
On the silent planet, Zoe couldn’t help from looking around again. Still nothing. A leaf fell from one of the tall trees. She looked up cautiously. Just a bit of wind.
“What now, sir?” she asked.
“We give them another few minutes, I guess,” replied Mal, but he didn’t look happy about it. “If we don’t hear from them we’ll head to the colony. Maybe we can find out what’s going on around here.”
***
They waited quietly. Zoe took a deep breath, getting some fresh air into her lungs. They never seemed to spend enough time with boots on ground, and the smell was fresh and sweet. If something had killed off the colony here, she hoped it wasn’t still around, because that would just ruin the trip completely.
After another fifteen minutes, Mal was clearly considering giving up. She’d learned long ago to read his body language and facial expressions. She loved her husband with all of her heart and knew him inside and out, but she still was able to read Mal like a book.
“Mal,” came Wash’s voice over the comm unit. “You better get back here. Something weird is going on down the hill.”
“We’re on our way,” said Mal.
***
A five minute dog-trot got them back to the ship just in time to hear a grinding sound from down the hill.
“What the hell-” started Mal, but then Book approached them, crouching, and waved them down to the ground near the edge of the hill.
At the bottom of the hill was a giant ring. The grinding sound was part of it turning. It would turn for a moment, then a piece on the edge would light up. Then it would start turning again.
“Weapon, sir?” Zoe guessed.
“None like I’ve ever seen,” Mal commented.
“Nor I,” said Book, earning a quick glance from them both. Wash was still peering over the side.
As they watched, a giant thick cloud seemed to burst from one side of the ring, causing them to scramble backward. But then the cloud pulled back, leaving the inside of the ring a shimmering, wet-looking surface.
Then something poked through, some kind of metal stick. A moment later the stick revealed to be attached to some kind of big box on wheels, which rolled its way through the ring.
“Think that could be the client, Mal?” Wash asked, though he sounded uncertain at the idea.
“Dunno,” replied Mal. “Let’s go find out,” and set off down the hill.
Zoe, thinking of fools rushing in, fell right behind him, with Wash and Book right behind her.
***
The box on wheels had stopped moving long before they got to it. There seemed to be some flaps on the side (locked) and possibly a door (also locked), and no answer came when they knocked. Wash insisted the end of the pole looked like a camera, but the others weren’t as sure.
They were debating whether and how to investigate the shimmery surface of the ring when suddenly there was a plopping sound as four people walked through. Reflexively, Mal and Zoe reached for their guns. Book slowly placed his hand on his, but not as visibly. Zoe hadn’t realized until then that the Shepherd was armed. Must have made him nervous to come to this place, too.
“People,” said one of the four, a tall, gray haired man. All four were wearing nearly identical clothing. It looked military, but like nothing he’d seen from the Alliance before. “Carter, I thought you said this place had no people.”
“Drones sent last week showed no signs of human life, sir,” answered the lone woman in the foursome.
Mal looked at Zoe, who raised an eyebrow. She looked the four over, evaluating. The tallest man stood stiffly, holding a long staff. She first took him to be the leader, but then looked more closely at the gray haired man, who had that same look that Mal got in his eyes. There was the one woman, and she reminded Zoe of herself. The woman seemed to zig when the gray haired man zagged. Military, for certain, and they’d been working together for some time.
“Hmm. Daniel, go do your thing,” the gray haired man said.
“Hi,” said the fourth man. “We’re peaceful explorers.” Daniel looked completely opposite of the others, not a military bone in his body. He wore the uniform but the floppy hat he wore gave him a more casual air. His smile was friendly enough but she’d learned not to judge just by looks. Look at her husband, for example.
“You are, are you?” Mal replied. “And just what you might be exploring?” Mal and Zoe exchanged a quick look. Not the clients after all.
Daniel turned back to the gray haired man, obviously surprised that there was no communications issue.
“Oh, you know,” said the gray haired man. “This and that. Here and there.”
“And everywhere?” said Wash, though he shut up at Zoe’s glare.
“You Alliance?” Mal asked.
“Um, we’re not familiar with ‘Alliance’. Can you tell us about them?” Daniel said.
“Huh. Never heard of them? Alliance is the law here ‘bout. Tend not to wander this far out, but that don’t stop them if they want. Lookin’ at your uniforms,” Mal pointedly looked them up and down. “I’d guess you were military, so that usually makes you Alliance.”
“And you don’t... like... the military?” asked the grey haired man, looking at them cautiously.
“Jack”, said Daniel clearly exasperated with the other man, though not in an angry way. Daniel seemed to grasp that there was a problem between these folks and this Alliance. “We’re just explorers, we’re from another world.”
Mal and Zoe exchanged another glance. “Well of course you’re from another world,” said Mal. “Seeing as nobody has heard from anyone on this rock in at least two years. And you came through that... ring... thing...”
“We call it a Stargate,” explained the woman who had been called Carter. “It creates a stable wormhole that allows travel between various planets.”
“Huh,” said Mal. “Never heard of such a thing. You, Zoe?”
“No, sir,” she responded almost automatically. But it was true, she’d never heard of such a Stargate.
“We come from a planet called Earth-” started Carter.
“That I doubt,” said Zoe.
Daniel started. “I assure you, we’re from Earth.”
Mal’s face twitched. He was annoyed but trying not to show it. “Everyone knows Earth-that-was got used up, there’s nothing left there and no way for people to live there.”
Jack might have been equally annoyed. “That’s odd. Earth was just fine when we left just a few minutes ago.”
“Anyway,” said Daniel, exchanging a look with Jack. “We’re here to look at the ruins about twenty-five kilometers to the west. Have you been there?”
“The colony?” said Mal. “Not in a few years, since there were people there. Was a nice place. It’s about a four hour walk, but we could take you - got a ship nearby.”
“Sir?” Zoe said quietly. “Need I remind you, we’re low on fuel. Are you sure that’s a good idea?”
“We need to find out about the client. Either these folks know something or they’ll help us find out.”
“Ship? There’s no water near- Wait,” Carter said, her eyebrows reaching her hairline. “You have space travel?
***
The walk back up the hill was a bit rougher than coming down had been, leaving little time for talking. The new folks seemed to take it in stride. Zoe noticed that the tallest man with the staff still had not said one word, but seemed to take in everything around him. She considered him the most dangerous of the four.
Carter and Jack, it turned out, were both pilots and showed appreciation for the design of the Firefly ship. “I’ve never seen anything like this,” Carter said with excitement clear in her voice.” “What fuels it, how do the engines work?”
“You’ll have to take that up with little Kaylee, she’s the one who keeps Serenity running” replied Mal. “It’s Wash here who flies her, mostly.”
Zoe saw new respect for her husband in the eyes of the two pilots, as well as from the silent man, who had finally been introduced as Teal’c. A nod was his only acknowledgement.
The back of the ship opened out and Jayne came out to see what was going on. She was surprised when the gray haired man ground to a halt.
“Dave?” asked O’Neill. “What the hell are you doing here?”
“Huh?” said Jayne, typically verbose as always.
“Dave Dixon. Colonel, what are you doing here? Did they send through another team?”
“Surely you got me mixed up with someone else,” said Jayne, backing away slowly. “I don’t know what you’re talkin’ ‘bout.”
“Sir, I don’t think that’s actually Colonel Dixon,” said Carter.
“Huh,” said Jack. “Damned scary resemblance, don’t ya think?” He turned to Mal. “Does he keep grenades in his pants?”
Zoe blinked.
***
The trip to the colony only took a few minutes. They settled down on the edge of the double handful of buildings that made up the bulk of it.
Weather had taken its toll on the buildings, which were simple construction, probably, Zoe thought, Alliance provided pre-fabricated units.
There was still silence. Still no birds, no insects. No wild life. They stood on the open back of the Firefly ship and looked at the town, or what was left of it.
Daniel said, “Tell us more about the colony.”
“Don’t know much,” Mal said. “Only thing we know is it was some kind of mining colony, though not sure what kind.”
“Place went quiet about a year ago,” Zoe added. “Alliance never cared enough to check on it beforehand, ‘least that we know of.”
“So, can I ask, what are you folks doing here then?” Jack asked.
“Just meeting a client for some business,” Mal said as casual as Zoe had ever seen him pull off. “Got a message from someone here, or claimed to be. Appeared to be, according to the message.. Surprised the hell out of us. Client never showed, though. You folks wandered by instead. You wouldn’t know anything about that, would you?”
“I promise you, Captain, we haven’t heard of any messages from here, or sent any,” Daniel said. “Until we got here, we thought there were no people here.” His face looked honest, Zoe thought, but...
They headed out of the ship, into the town. Mal had agreed to show them where the mine was located. “Carter, you go with Captain Reynolds to find the mine,” ordered Jack. “Teal’c, Daniel and I will take a look through the little town here.”
“Zoe, stick with them,” said Mal. “Don’t expect any trouble but you never know.” Unspoken, his face said, “Make sure we can trust them.”
“Understood, sir,” Zoe said, and followed the group of men into the small town.
***
The first building they went into had been something like a general store. There was everything from food ration bars (Alliance issue) to farming equipment to mining gear. The stock was dusty, but otherwise undisturbed. It wasn’t until they were out the door until Zoe realized what was bothering her - none of the foodstuffs seemed like they’d been touched by animals.
“I want to check in with Carter, see what they’ve found,” said Jack, grabbing the radio on his shoulder. “Carter,” he said into it. “What have you found.” They stood on the worn path between buildings, waiting for a response.
What came back was a lot of static. “Can’t...mine...found...”
“Carter, if you can hear me, head back to the town.”
The response was still static, but sounded like a confirmation.
“I suggest if we don’t see or hear from them in ten minutes we head that way,” Zoe suggested, sitting on her sudden urge to say, “sir”.
The next building they went into was some kind of post office type place. There were marked bins with names on them. One corner was full of communications equipment. The tools for interstellar communication could be expensive. It was common that a small colony only had one set, kept somewhere where all could use it.
Zoe noted the thick coating of dust on the equipment. “Sir...” she said, looking at the dust.
“If the wave didn’t come from here, who sent it?” wondered Mal.
She just looked at him.
The third building was more of a lawman’s place. They found bodies, mummified, some with little badges on them.
When they went upstairs the bodies were different.
“O’Neill,” called Teal’c.
Jack went over and looked at a body.
“This is the marking of Tiamat. He has not been heard from in some years.”
“How is that possible?”
“I do not know. I only know that he was considered a minor god and his disappearance was, at the time, noted and then dismissed by the other System Lords.”
“How is it that you remember?”
“A boy from my childhood became a Jaffa under Tiamat. It is possible he is one of the bodies we have found here.”
Jack put a hand on Teal’c shoulder. “I’m sorry, buddy.”
“God?” said Zoe. “Someone thought they were a god.”
“False god,” said Teal’c with vehemence.
“It’s a long story,” said Daniel. “But basically there are these beings, Goa’uld, who pretend to be gods to enslave people and try to take over the galaxy.”
“They sound like a heap of fun,” said Zoe. “Let’s not meet them.”
“We should head out to meet Carter,” said Jack.
They got back outside just as Carter and Mal were coming up the path. “What’d you find, Carter?” Jack asked.
“It’s a naquadah mine, sir. But from the looks of it, not a very productive one. There’s naquadah but not very much, at least not in the levels they had dug out.”
“Well, that explains the Jaffa bodies we found in the sheriff’s office,” commented Daniel.
“How much is naquadah mined around here, Captain Reynolds?” asked Carter.
“What the hell is naquadah?” retorted Mal.
***
Dinner was shared effort on the ship. The new folks contributed some bits and pieces from rations in their packs, which wound up being tastier than the mush that was most of their meals those days. After they’d finished, Carter wandered off with Kaylee to look at the engines of the ship. Jayne had weirdly made himself scarce the moment the meal was over. Simon and River had not joined them, apparently her latest treatment hadn’t gone well. Book had, somehow, gotten the quiet Teal’c to talk, but she couldn’t tell about what. Or maybe, she thought as she looked closer, Teal’c was merely listening to Book talk. It was Wash’s turn for clean-up. Normally Zoe would have helped them but was too interested in these military people to step away.
Zoe wondered what Inara would make of their guests. Inara had been left behind on their last stop. This was supposed to be a quick delivery and then they’d come back for her. They’d sent her a message saying they’d been delayed. Inara had replied that all was well with her and that it would give her a chance to see more clients. Pity, though. Inara often seemed to have the best judge of character of all of them combined.
“Tell me more about ‘Earth-that-was’”, asked Daniel.
“Lots of stories,” said Zoe. “Wars, famines, plagues of diseases, pollution. They say all the resources got used up. Folks packed up, found new planets, new homes. The tales say that Earth-that-was is now dead, nobody can live there.”
“But we came from there,” insisted Daniel gently. “I promise you that while we have problems with wars and disease and pollution, billions of people still live there.”
“No offense, mister, but I’d say you might be a touch feng le.”
Jack raised an eyebrow, but Daniel calmly replied, “No, we’re not crazy. I can’t explain it.”
“Maybe I can,” offered Carter, returning to the common area with Kaylee. “Captain Reynolds, what year is it?”
“2157, why?”
“Well because it’s 2003 to us,” Jack said. “Carter, have we traveled through time again?”
“Again? You do that kind of thing often?” Zoe asked, wondering if they weren’t all gone mad.
“A couple of times. They were accidents. They’re long stories for another time,” said Carter. She turned to Jack, “Sir, I’d like permission to help these folks with their ship. I think I can make some basic modifications to their engine that will make it a little more fuel efficient. With their Captain’s permission, of course,” she said, turning to Mal. “Kaylee and I have talked about it, she’s eager to try my ideas out.”
“Fine with me if it’s fine with Kaylee,” said Mal. While he was a bit suspicious of these strangers, Kaylee knew the engine inside out, she wouldn’t allow someone to make dangerous or bad changes.
“Not to change the subject, but if naquadah is unknown here, how did Tiamat find it and get the mining rights?” Daniel asked.
“Alliance probably sold the planet,” Zoe figured.
“Go’auld tend to take, not buy,” Jack said.
“Well, Jack, sometimes they’ll buy, or bargain,” Daniel pointed out. “Maybe they made an agreement with the Alliance, we take the planet, you leave us alone. That would explain why nobody ever looked into the colony again.”
“You never found your client,” Captain Reynolds,” said Jack. “What will you do now?”
“Oh, probably find another client,” Mal dithered.
Zoe snorted. “We’ll go back into town, take the foodstuffs that are still good, find more clients.”
“Just tell them we’re crooks, Zoe,” Mal complained.
“We find you on an otherwise deserted rock where there’s no other life to meet a client you never specify for things you won’t admit to,” Daniel pointed out. “We kinda figured it out already.”
“It still doesn’t answer the questions,” Zoe pointed out. “What happened to the client? How did we get a wave from equipment nobody’s used in months? And what happened to the colony?”
“The colony question I can answer - probably fumes from the naquadah mine,” said Carter. “It looked like the ventilation in the mine was jerry-rigged. The mine is right next to the town, and they were probably pumping the fumes right into the town. Not only did it kill the residents but all biological life around.”
“Oh, joy,” commented Jack.
“We were probably breathing what’s left of it, but it will all dissipate over the next couple of years and the natural wildlife should return from the rest of the planet.”
“Are we safe?” Zoe asked.
“Oh, sure, we’d have to stay here for a few weeks before it would build up enough to be toxic.”
“Then we’d best be making plans to get off this rock,” said Mal.
“We need to check in,” Jack commented. He gathered up Teal’c with his eyes, and the four stood up.
“Mind if we go with you? Sure love to see how this Stargate thing works,” Mal commented. At Jack’s nod, he and Zoe followed the four.
***
Mal and Zoe had noted the nearby pedestal but had dismissed it as some kind of weird artwork from the colony. Now Carter went up to it and started pushing parts of it, which lit up like buttons. At the same time, parts of the ring started lighting up, too, just like before.
After seven buttons, there was the great cloud that came out of the ring, which again settled into a big wet puddle.
The four crowded around the box with wheels, and one of the flaps had been opened.
“Colonel O’Neill!” exclaimed the older man in the tiny view screen. “Glad you’re ok. We tried contacting you but we’ve been unable to obtain a lock on your location.”
“All is well, sir,” said Jack. “We found a dead colony, deader Jaffa, and a naquadah mine, plus a ship full of… interesting... people.”
“You can put it all in your report when you return, Colonel. Given that we can’t get a lock on your site, I’m ordering you to return immediately. We can’t take the chance of losing contact with you completely.”
“Understood, sir,” said Jack. “We’ll be through in a few minutes. Sending the MALP back first. O’Neill out.” The screen went dark. He held up his wrist, poking at something that until then Zoe had assumed was a time piece.
“That’s not a watch, then,” she commented.
“Nope,” said Jack. “Extra security. You can communicate through an open wormhole, but to get someone or something through, you have to tell them to lower a shield. Helps keep unwanted guests away.”
Jack closed the flap on the box that protected the screen, and pushed a set of buttons on its side. The box promptly turned itself around and headed into the puddle.
“Pretty neat trick,” commented Zoe.
She noticed that Jack had started pulling things out of his vest and pack, and after a moment, the other three with him did, too.
“What’s all this now?” said Mal.
“Food, chocolate bars, a bit of equipment,” said Daniel. “We can’t pay you for the fuel you used to help us, but we can at least make things a little nicer for you than mush until you make your next deal.”
Carter handed some papers to Mal. “Here’s the sketches that Kaylee and I worked out for the engines. I’ve made a few notes, she may be able to do these on her own.”
Mal and Zoe exchanged a glance. “Well, thanks,” said Mal, a little uneasy by this gesture. “You come through this way again, you look us up.”
“Sure,” said Jack. “Come on, kids, time to go home.” He lead the other three through the puddle, which promptly vanished.
“Well that was right nice of them, eh, Zoe?”
“Yes, sir,” Zoe said.
“By the way, Zoe, did you happen to notice what buttons they pushed?”
“Does it matter, sir? If they risked getting stuck here, wouldn’t we risk getting stuck there? Besides, we couldn’t get through their shield.”
“Good point.”
“But, I’m still wondering, sir -- how did they know about Jayne and the grenades?”
Mal sighed. “I don’t know. And I don’t want to know. Let’s go get those rations and see where we can do some business.”
She and Mal started back up the hill, to the ship. Home.
-END-
Prompt: A badly timed trip through the Stargate lands SG-1 on a human-colonized planet that's lost contact with Earth, circa 2517.
Final note: One of the prompts was “characters played by the same actor are actually the same person”. While I didn’t fully use it, Adam Baldwin played both Jayne Cobb on Firefly as well as Dave Dixon on two episode of Stargate SG-1.
The thing about the grenades is a nod to the SG1/Stargate Atlantis crackfic “SG-15” by DVS (http://archiveofourown.org/works/59643/chapters/78979), which I highly recommend. It’s completely hilarious, and turns Dixon (who is fairly sane in canon) into Jayne on crack.
Author: infinimato
Fandoms: Firefly/Stargate SG-1
Characters: Derrial Book, Hoban Washburne, Malcolm Reynolds, Zoe Washburne; Daniel Jackson, Jack O’Neill, Samantha Carter, Teal’c
Pairings: None
Rating: G
Word count: 4000
Spoilers: Goes through 7th-ish season of Stargate SG-1, set before the BDM for Firefly.
Warnings: No tribbles were harmed in the making of this work
Disclaimer: <#include std-disclaimer.h>
A/N: Thanks to jaune_chat for the beta. Remaining problems are all my fault. Further notes at the end.
Summary: Nobody had heard from the colony for a while, but now business brings them there.
“You sure this is where we were supposed to meet up, sir?” Zoe kept her hands on her rifle, ready for anything. The complete quiet was bothering her.
“That’s what the wave said, Zoe,” said Mal, looking like he was picking up on her tension, or maybe had a bit of his own. “Must say, though, the quiet is a mite unnerving.”
There was no birdsong, or buzzing of insects. No calling of animals remote in the hills or in the forest. They day was clear, the sun was shining, but nothing flew in the sky.
They’d left Wash and Book just inside the forest, in case something was weird was up. They were on the edge of a clearing. Serenity was on the other edge of the forest, near the top of a hill. This was a new client, Mal didn’t want to take chances. He’d weighed the odds of Jayne doing something stupid left on the ship with the odds of the client being a problem. It had been a tough call.
“Why this planet?” Wash had kept arguing. “Nobody heard from the colony in years. Suddenly we get a message from someone there? Something is strange.”
“Gotta admit my husband has a point,” Zoe had put in. “The whole thing makes me kind of twitchy.”
But, as Mal kept pointing out, they were low on cash and fuel, and they needed the deal. Mal’s argument won.
On the silent planet, Zoe couldn’t help from looking around again. Still nothing. A leaf fell from one of the tall trees. She looked up cautiously. Just a bit of wind.
“What now, sir?” she asked.
“We give them another few minutes, I guess,” replied Mal, but he didn’t look happy about it. “If we don’t hear from them we’ll head to the colony. Maybe we can find out what’s going on around here.”
***
They waited quietly. Zoe took a deep breath, getting some fresh air into her lungs. They never seemed to spend enough time with boots on ground, and the smell was fresh and sweet. If something had killed off the colony here, she hoped it wasn’t still around, because that would just ruin the trip completely.
After another fifteen minutes, Mal was clearly considering giving up. She’d learned long ago to read his body language and facial expressions. She loved her husband with all of her heart and knew him inside and out, but she still was able to read Mal like a book.
“Mal,” came Wash’s voice over the comm unit. “You better get back here. Something weird is going on down the hill.”
“We’re on our way,” said Mal.
***
A five minute dog-trot got them back to the ship just in time to hear a grinding sound from down the hill.
“What the hell-” started Mal, but then Book approached them, crouching, and waved them down to the ground near the edge of the hill.
At the bottom of the hill was a giant ring. The grinding sound was part of it turning. It would turn for a moment, then a piece on the edge would light up. Then it would start turning again.
“Weapon, sir?” Zoe guessed.
“None like I’ve ever seen,” Mal commented.
“Nor I,” said Book, earning a quick glance from them both. Wash was still peering over the side.
As they watched, a giant thick cloud seemed to burst from one side of the ring, causing them to scramble backward. But then the cloud pulled back, leaving the inside of the ring a shimmering, wet-looking surface.
Then something poked through, some kind of metal stick. A moment later the stick revealed to be attached to some kind of big box on wheels, which rolled its way through the ring.
“Think that could be the client, Mal?” Wash asked, though he sounded uncertain at the idea.
“Dunno,” replied Mal. “Let’s go find out,” and set off down the hill.
Zoe, thinking of fools rushing in, fell right behind him, with Wash and Book right behind her.
***
The box on wheels had stopped moving long before they got to it. There seemed to be some flaps on the side (locked) and possibly a door (also locked), and no answer came when they knocked. Wash insisted the end of the pole looked like a camera, but the others weren’t as sure.
They were debating whether and how to investigate the shimmery surface of the ring when suddenly there was a plopping sound as four people walked through. Reflexively, Mal and Zoe reached for their guns. Book slowly placed his hand on his, but not as visibly. Zoe hadn’t realized until then that the Shepherd was armed. Must have made him nervous to come to this place, too.
“People,” said one of the four, a tall, gray haired man. All four were wearing nearly identical clothing. It looked military, but like nothing he’d seen from the Alliance before. “Carter, I thought you said this place had no people.”
“Drones sent last week showed no signs of human life, sir,” answered the lone woman in the foursome.
Mal looked at Zoe, who raised an eyebrow. She looked the four over, evaluating. The tallest man stood stiffly, holding a long staff. She first took him to be the leader, but then looked more closely at the gray haired man, who had that same look that Mal got in his eyes. There was the one woman, and she reminded Zoe of herself. The woman seemed to zig when the gray haired man zagged. Military, for certain, and they’d been working together for some time.
“Hmm. Daniel, go do your thing,” the gray haired man said.
“Hi,” said the fourth man. “We’re peaceful explorers.” Daniel looked completely opposite of the others, not a military bone in his body. He wore the uniform but the floppy hat he wore gave him a more casual air. His smile was friendly enough but she’d learned not to judge just by looks. Look at her husband, for example.
“You are, are you?” Mal replied. “And just what you might be exploring?” Mal and Zoe exchanged a quick look. Not the clients after all.
Daniel turned back to the gray haired man, obviously surprised that there was no communications issue.
“Oh, you know,” said the gray haired man. “This and that. Here and there.”
“And everywhere?” said Wash, though he shut up at Zoe’s glare.
“You Alliance?” Mal asked.
“Um, we’re not familiar with ‘Alliance’. Can you tell us about them?” Daniel said.
“Huh. Never heard of them? Alliance is the law here ‘bout. Tend not to wander this far out, but that don’t stop them if they want. Lookin’ at your uniforms,” Mal pointedly looked them up and down. “I’d guess you were military, so that usually makes you Alliance.”
“And you don’t... like... the military?” asked the grey haired man, looking at them cautiously.
“Jack”, said Daniel clearly exasperated with the other man, though not in an angry way. Daniel seemed to grasp that there was a problem between these folks and this Alliance. “We’re just explorers, we’re from another world.”
Mal and Zoe exchanged another glance. “Well of course you’re from another world,” said Mal. “Seeing as nobody has heard from anyone on this rock in at least two years. And you came through that... ring... thing...”
“We call it a Stargate,” explained the woman who had been called Carter. “It creates a stable wormhole that allows travel between various planets.”
“Huh,” said Mal. “Never heard of such a thing. You, Zoe?”
“No, sir,” she responded almost automatically. But it was true, she’d never heard of such a Stargate.
“We come from a planet called Earth-” started Carter.
“That I doubt,” said Zoe.
Daniel started. “I assure you, we’re from Earth.”
Mal’s face twitched. He was annoyed but trying not to show it. “Everyone knows Earth-that-was got used up, there’s nothing left there and no way for people to live there.”
Jack might have been equally annoyed. “That’s odd. Earth was just fine when we left just a few minutes ago.”
“Anyway,” said Daniel, exchanging a look with Jack. “We’re here to look at the ruins about twenty-five kilometers to the west. Have you been there?”
“The colony?” said Mal. “Not in a few years, since there were people there. Was a nice place. It’s about a four hour walk, but we could take you - got a ship nearby.”
“Sir?” Zoe said quietly. “Need I remind you, we’re low on fuel. Are you sure that’s a good idea?”
“We need to find out about the client. Either these folks know something or they’ll help us find out.”
“Ship? There’s no water near- Wait,” Carter said, her eyebrows reaching her hairline. “You have space travel?
***
The walk back up the hill was a bit rougher than coming down had been, leaving little time for talking. The new folks seemed to take it in stride. Zoe noticed that the tallest man with the staff still had not said one word, but seemed to take in everything around him. She considered him the most dangerous of the four.
Carter and Jack, it turned out, were both pilots and showed appreciation for the design of the Firefly ship. “I’ve never seen anything like this,” Carter said with excitement clear in her voice.” “What fuels it, how do the engines work?”
“You’ll have to take that up with little Kaylee, she’s the one who keeps Serenity running” replied Mal. “It’s Wash here who flies her, mostly.”
Zoe saw new respect for her husband in the eyes of the two pilots, as well as from the silent man, who had finally been introduced as Teal’c. A nod was his only acknowledgement.
The back of the ship opened out and Jayne came out to see what was going on. She was surprised when the gray haired man ground to a halt.
“Dave?” asked O’Neill. “What the hell are you doing here?”
“Huh?” said Jayne, typically verbose as always.
“Dave Dixon. Colonel, what are you doing here? Did they send through another team?”
“Surely you got me mixed up with someone else,” said Jayne, backing away slowly. “I don’t know what you’re talkin’ ‘bout.”
“Sir, I don’t think that’s actually Colonel Dixon,” said Carter.
“Huh,” said Jack. “Damned scary resemblance, don’t ya think?” He turned to Mal. “Does he keep grenades in his pants?”
Zoe blinked.
***
The trip to the colony only took a few minutes. They settled down on the edge of the double handful of buildings that made up the bulk of it.
Weather had taken its toll on the buildings, which were simple construction, probably, Zoe thought, Alliance provided pre-fabricated units.
There was still silence. Still no birds, no insects. No wild life. They stood on the open back of the Firefly ship and looked at the town, or what was left of it.
Daniel said, “Tell us more about the colony.”
“Don’t know much,” Mal said. “Only thing we know is it was some kind of mining colony, though not sure what kind.”
“Place went quiet about a year ago,” Zoe added. “Alliance never cared enough to check on it beforehand, ‘least that we know of.”
“So, can I ask, what are you folks doing here then?” Jack asked.
“Just meeting a client for some business,” Mal said as casual as Zoe had ever seen him pull off. “Got a message from someone here, or claimed to be. Appeared to be, according to the message.. Surprised the hell out of us. Client never showed, though. You folks wandered by instead. You wouldn’t know anything about that, would you?”
“I promise you, Captain, we haven’t heard of any messages from here, or sent any,” Daniel said. “Until we got here, we thought there were no people here.” His face looked honest, Zoe thought, but...
They headed out of the ship, into the town. Mal had agreed to show them where the mine was located. “Carter, you go with Captain Reynolds to find the mine,” ordered Jack. “Teal’c, Daniel and I will take a look through the little town here.”
“Zoe, stick with them,” said Mal. “Don’t expect any trouble but you never know.” Unspoken, his face said, “Make sure we can trust them.”
“Understood, sir,” Zoe said, and followed the group of men into the small town.
***
The first building they went into had been something like a general store. There was everything from food ration bars (Alliance issue) to farming equipment to mining gear. The stock was dusty, but otherwise undisturbed. It wasn’t until they were out the door until Zoe realized what was bothering her - none of the foodstuffs seemed like they’d been touched by animals.
“I want to check in with Carter, see what they’ve found,” said Jack, grabbing the radio on his shoulder. “Carter,” he said into it. “What have you found.” They stood on the worn path between buildings, waiting for a response.
What came back was a lot of static. “Can’t...mine...found...”
“Carter, if you can hear me, head back to the town.”
The response was still static, but sounded like a confirmation.
“I suggest if we don’t see or hear from them in ten minutes we head that way,” Zoe suggested, sitting on her sudden urge to say, “sir”.
The next building they went into was some kind of post office type place. There were marked bins with names on them. One corner was full of communications equipment. The tools for interstellar communication could be expensive. It was common that a small colony only had one set, kept somewhere where all could use it.
Zoe noted the thick coating of dust on the equipment. “Sir...” she said, looking at the dust.
“If the wave didn’t come from here, who sent it?” wondered Mal.
She just looked at him.
The third building was more of a lawman’s place. They found bodies, mummified, some with little badges on them.
When they went upstairs the bodies were different.
“O’Neill,” called Teal’c.
Jack went over and looked at a body.
“This is the marking of Tiamat. He has not been heard from in some years.”
“How is that possible?”
“I do not know. I only know that he was considered a minor god and his disappearance was, at the time, noted and then dismissed by the other System Lords.”
“How is it that you remember?”
“A boy from my childhood became a Jaffa under Tiamat. It is possible he is one of the bodies we have found here.”
Jack put a hand on Teal’c shoulder. “I’m sorry, buddy.”
“God?” said Zoe. “Someone thought they were a god.”
“False god,” said Teal’c with vehemence.
“It’s a long story,” said Daniel. “But basically there are these beings, Goa’uld, who pretend to be gods to enslave people and try to take over the galaxy.”
“They sound like a heap of fun,” said Zoe. “Let’s not meet them.”
“We should head out to meet Carter,” said Jack.
They got back outside just as Carter and Mal were coming up the path. “What’d you find, Carter?” Jack asked.
“It’s a naquadah mine, sir. But from the looks of it, not a very productive one. There’s naquadah but not very much, at least not in the levels they had dug out.”
“Well, that explains the Jaffa bodies we found in the sheriff’s office,” commented Daniel.
“How much is naquadah mined around here, Captain Reynolds?” asked Carter.
“What the hell is naquadah?” retorted Mal.
***
Dinner was shared effort on the ship. The new folks contributed some bits and pieces from rations in their packs, which wound up being tastier than the mush that was most of their meals those days. After they’d finished, Carter wandered off with Kaylee to look at the engines of the ship. Jayne had weirdly made himself scarce the moment the meal was over. Simon and River had not joined them, apparently her latest treatment hadn’t gone well. Book had, somehow, gotten the quiet Teal’c to talk, but she couldn’t tell about what. Or maybe, she thought as she looked closer, Teal’c was merely listening to Book talk. It was Wash’s turn for clean-up. Normally Zoe would have helped them but was too interested in these military people to step away.
Zoe wondered what Inara would make of their guests. Inara had been left behind on their last stop. This was supposed to be a quick delivery and then they’d come back for her. They’d sent her a message saying they’d been delayed. Inara had replied that all was well with her and that it would give her a chance to see more clients. Pity, though. Inara often seemed to have the best judge of character of all of them combined.
“Tell me more about ‘Earth-that-was’”, asked Daniel.
“Lots of stories,” said Zoe. “Wars, famines, plagues of diseases, pollution. They say all the resources got used up. Folks packed up, found new planets, new homes. The tales say that Earth-that-was is now dead, nobody can live there.”
“But we came from there,” insisted Daniel gently. “I promise you that while we have problems with wars and disease and pollution, billions of people still live there.”
“No offense, mister, but I’d say you might be a touch feng le.”
Jack raised an eyebrow, but Daniel calmly replied, “No, we’re not crazy. I can’t explain it.”
“Maybe I can,” offered Carter, returning to the common area with Kaylee. “Captain Reynolds, what year is it?”
“2157, why?”
“Well because it’s 2003 to us,” Jack said. “Carter, have we traveled through time again?”
“Again? You do that kind of thing often?” Zoe asked, wondering if they weren’t all gone mad.
“A couple of times. They were accidents. They’re long stories for another time,” said Carter. She turned to Jack, “Sir, I’d like permission to help these folks with their ship. I think I can make some basic modifications to their engine that will make it a little more fuel efficient. With their Captain’s permission, of course,” she said, turning to Mal. “Kaylee and I have talked about it, she’s eager to try my ideas out.”
“Fine with me if it’s fine with Kaylee,” said Mal. While he was a bit suspicious of these strangers, Kaylee knew the engine inside out, she wouldn’t allow someone to make dangerous or bad changes.
“Not to change the subject, but if naquadah is unknown here, how did Tiamat find it and get the mining rights?” Daniel asked.
“Alliance probably sold the planet,” Zoe figured.
“Go’auld tend to take, not buy,” Jack said.
“Well, Jack, sometimes they’ll buy, or bargain,” Daniel pointed out. “Maybe they made an agreement with the Alliance, we take the planet, you leave us alone. That would explain why nobody ever looked into the colony again.”
“You never found your client,” Captain Reynolds,” said Jack. “What will you do now?”
“Oh, probably find another client,” Mal dithered.
Zoe snorted. “We’ll go back into town, take the foodstuffs that are still good, find more clients.”
“Just tell them we’re crooks, Zoe,” Mal complained.
“We find you on an otherwise deserted rock where there’s no other life to meet a client you never specify for things you won’t admit to,” Daniel pointed out. “We kinda figured it out already.”
“It still doesn’t answer the questions,” Zoe pointed out. “What happened to the client? How did we get a wave from equipment nobody’s used in months? And what happened to the colony?”
“The colony question I can answer - probably fumes from the naquadah mine,” said Carter. “It looked like the ventilation in the mine was jerry-rigged. The mine is right next to the town, and they were probably pumping the fumes right into the town. Not only did it kill the residents but all biological life around.”
“Oh, joy,” commented Jack.
“We were probably breathing what’s left of it, but it will all dissipate over the next couple of years and the natural wildlife should return from the rest of the planet.”
“Are we safe?” Zoe asked.
“Oh, sure, we’d have to stay here for a few weeks before it would build up enough to be toxic.”
“Then we’d best be making plans to get off this rock,” said Mal.
“We need to check in,” Jack commented. He gathered up Teal’c with his eyes, and the four stood up.
“Mind if we go with you? Sure love to see how this Stargate thing works,” Mal commented. At Jack’s nod, he and Zoe followed the four.
***
Mal and Zoe had noted the nearby pedestal but had dismissed it as some kind of weird artwork from the colony. Now Carter went up to it and started pushing parts of it, which lit up like buttons. At the same time, parts of the ring started lighting up, too, just like before.
After seven buttons, there was the great cloud that came out of the ring, which again settled into a big wet puddle.
The four crowded around the box with wheels, and one of the flaps had been opened.
“Colonel O’Neill!” exclaimed the older man in the tiny view screen. “Glad you’re ok. We tried contacting you but we’ve been unable to obtain a lock on your location.”
“All is well, sir,” said Jack. “We found a dead colony, deader Jaffa, and a naquadah mine, plus a ship full of… interesting... people.”
“You can put it all in your report when you return, Colonel. Given that we can’t get a lock on your site, I’m ordering you to return immediately. We can’t take the chance of losing contact with you completely.”
“Understood, sir,” said Jack. “We’ll be through in a few minutes. Sending the MALP back first. O’Neill out.” The screen went dark. He held up his wrist, poking at something that until then Zoe had assumed was a time piece.
“That’s not a watch, then,” she commented.
“Nope,” said Jack. “Extra security. You can communicate through an open wormhole, but to get someone or something through, you have to tell them to lower a shield. Helps keep unwanted guests away.”
Jack closed the flap on the box that protected the screen, and pushed a set of buttons on its side. The box promptly turned itself around and headed into the puddle.
“Pretty neat trick,” commented Zoe.
She noticed that Jack had started pulling things out of his vest and pack, and after a moment, the other three with him did, too.
“What’s all this now?” said Mal.
“Food, chocolate bars, a bit of equipment,” said Daniel. “We can’t pay you for the fuel you used to help us, but we can at least make things a little nicer for you than mush until you make your next deal.”
Carter handed some papers to Mal. “Here’s the sketches that Kaylee and I worked out for the engines. I’ve made a few notes, she may be able to do these on her own.”
Mal and Zoe exchanged a glance. “Well, thanks,” said Mal, a little uneasy by this gesture. “You come through this way again, you look us up.”
“Sure,” said Jack. “Come on, kids, time to go home.” He lead the other three through the puddle, which promptly vanished.
“Well that was right nice of them, eh, Zoe?”
“Yes, sir,” Zoe said.
“By the way, Zoe, did you happen to notice what buttons they pushed?”
“Does it matter, sir? If they risked getting stuck here, wouldn’t we risk getting stuck there? Besides, we couldn’t get through their shield.”
“Good point.”
“But, I’m still wondering, sir -- how did they know about Jayne and the grenades?”
Mal sighed. “I don’t know. And I don’t want to know. Let’s go get those rations and see where we can do some business.”
She and Mal started back up the hill, to the ship. Home.
-END-
Prompt: A badly timed trip through the Stargate lands SG-1 on a human-colonized planet that's lost contact with Earth, circa 2517.
Final note: One of the prompts was “characters played by the same actor are actually the same person”. While I didn’t fully use it, Adam Baldwin played both Jayne Cobb on Firefly as well as Dave Dixon on two episode of Stargate SG-1.
The thing about the grenades is a nod to the SG1/Stargate Atlantis crackfic “SG-15” by DVS (http://archiveofourown.org/works/59643/chapters/78979), which I highly recommend. It’s completely hilarious, and turns Dixon (who is fairly sane in canon) into Jayne on crack.