[Stargate: Fiction] "The Fifth Man" [SG-22, G]
Title: The Fifth Man
Prompt: writerverse challenge #13 ‘weekly quick fic #5’ (‘taken’ & ‘again and again’)
Bonus: present tense
Word Count: 1, 187
Rating: G
Original/Fandom: Stargate SG-1 ( SG-22, original characters)
Pairings: none
Summary: It’s Billy Chen’s first trip through the ‘gate- but SG-22 is used to missions turning out like this.
Note(s): originally posted to the writerverse wv_bookclub
The Fifth Man
Second Lieutenant Billy Chen wakes up to a dimly-lit room and a pounding headache. It takes a moment for him to remember what happened, since his brain isn’t being particularly cooperative.
Finally, finally he was assigned a gate team- temporarily, of course, and not SG-1, but he hadn’t expected that right out of the Air Force Academy. It was hard not to fidget during the briefing, so much that he’d hardly gotten more than a glance at his new team, then he was stepping through the gate to an alien world.
Then, of course, he was hit with a stun blast and woke up here… wherever that was.
From his left, Billy hears a rustling. “Dammit,” mutters a female voice, belonging to his new CO, Captain Gryffydd. “Not another naquadah mine.”
Billy sits up slowly, his head still throbbing. The other three members of his team- First Lieutenant Tobias, Gunnery Sergeant Vicks and Dr. Flannigan- are getting unsteadily to their feet, and Captain Gryffydd is moving between them, as though checking for injuries.
She stops when she gets to Billy. “You okay?” she asks. “Zat blasts can be pretty nasty the first couple of times.”
Billy manages to nod. “Yes, sir. I mean, ma’am.”
“Stick with Jason, kid,” she tells him, just as Billy begins to hear a clanking sound growing louder. “I know you outrank him, but he’s got more experience at this. Don’t draw attention to yourself, let me do all the talking, and keep your eyes open.”
He nods again. “Yes, sir- ma’am. Um, what…?”
He breaks off when three armored Jaffa march into the room. They all have black symbols on their foreheads, that Billy doesn’t recognize, a stylized sort of sun with squiggly rays.
Captain Gryffydd grins at them. “Ah, good. I believe our bags have already been taken to our rooms, but I wanted to schedule a facial and a mud wrap-”
She breaks off when the lead guard jabs her with the butt of his staff weapon. “Silence! You will serve our glorious master, Mithra. Work well or you will die!”
Billy tries to keep in step with Gunny Vicks as the Jaffa lead them through stone corridors. Ahead, Lieutenant Tobias has taken Captain Gryffydd’s elbow, talking softly to her. Dr. Flannigan appears on Billy’s other side. “Mithra, Iranian god of light,” he says. “In mythology, he was-”
“-incredibly boring, I’m sure,” Gunny Vicks interrupts. “Thanks, Lee.”
Billy opens his mouth, but Captain Gryffydd says loudly, “We’re getting the premium tour, right?”
That gets her another jab with a staff weapon, and Billy keeps his mouth shut. It’s even easier after that- working a mine by hand is more work than he’s ever done at once, worse than Basic Training by several magnitudes. This isn’t anything like Billy imagined when he’d been brought into the Stargate Program. He’d been told it was dangerous, and amazing, and the chance of a lifetime, but this…
Beside him, the rest of his new team work like they’ve done this before, which Gunny Vicks tells him they have, a lot. Captain Gryffydd keeps saying things, loudly, like “When do we get our coffee break?” and “I demand to see my union rep!” until one of the guards knocks her down with a vicious backhand. She gets back up as soon as he’s gone, grinning around a split lip, and goes right back to work.
After what seems like days, SG-22 and the rest of the grubby miners are marched to the surface and into a ramshackle building, where they’re unceremoniously handed bowls of gray mush. If Billy wasn’t so exhausted, he’d probably feel embarrassed by how useless he’d been, barely managing enough work to get by.
“Eat up,” Captain Gryffydd tells him, plopping on the floor beside him. “We’ve got a big day tomorrow.”
“Not tonight?” Dr. Flannigan asks. “I thought we were going for a record?”
“Nah,” says Gunny Vicks. “We’ve got to start over again, new Goa’uld, and all. If this was Hecate still, we’d have escaped already.”
“Yeah, but we blew her up,” adds Lieutenant Tobias.
Billy’s jaw drops. “You blew up a Goa’uld?” he asks, then snaps his mouth shut. “Sir,” he adds.
The captain waves a dismissing hand. “Not an important one. Finish up, boys, and get some sleep. We’ve got a big day tomorrow.”
Around them, the miners are lying down to sleep right there on the floor. Billy tries to keep his distance when his team bunks down in a far corner, but he falls dead asleep in seconds and wakes in a pile of arms and legs as the sun rises.
“Oh, god,” he mutters, but Captain Gryffydd is already on her feet.
“Showtime, boys,” she says. “Who wants to be the distraction today?”
“I’ll take Chen,” says Gunny Vicks, nudging Billy’s arm.
The captain nods. “And you go with them, Toby. Levi and I will grab our gear and meet you at the ‘gate.”
It turns out that by ‘distraction’, Captain Gryffydd means ‘fistfight’. Gunny Vicks and Lieutenant Tobias pull their punches, but the guards don’t. Fortunately, the other miners join in, and in minutes, they have a full-scale riot on their hands.
Captain Gryffydd reappears in the middle of it, a Jaffa staff weapon in her hands. She passes each of them a handgun and a tac vest. “Levi’s got the ‘gate open,” she says.
She fires at the at a group of guards approaching from the barracks- but doesn’t see the one behind her. Billy raises his gun and fires. The first bullet pings against the Jaffa’s armor, but the second and third hit home, dropping the guard in a crumpled heap.
Billy stares, and the captain grabs his arm. “Let’s go,” she says, and Billy follows her. He shoots three more guards on the way to the ‘gate, but doesn’t stop to see if they’re alive or not. Then, SG-22 and two dozen miners are through the wormhole and back in the SGC.
Captain Gryffydd comes through last, firing her staff weapon behind her. “Close the iris!” she yells, and it spirals into place.
Dr. Fraiser bustles them all off to the infirmary, where General Hammond meets them. “Thirty-one hours,” he says, with the hint of a smile. “Your record is twenty-seven.”
“New Goa’uld, sir,” says Captain Gryffydd. “But Lieutenant Chen did well out there. He’ll be an asset to whichever team he’s assigned.”
“Is that so?” General Hammond asks. “Lieutenant, your permanent team assignment will be a matter of-”
“Sir?” Billy interrupts. Yesterday morning, he’d never have had the courage, but today he doesn’t even hesitate. “Sir, if I may… I’d like to stay with SG-22. With your permission.”
“Captain Gryffydd?” asks the general, and she glances over her shoulder at her teammates. They don’t say anything, but she grins.
“We’d be happy to have him, sir,” she says, and General Hammond nods.
“Lieutenant Chen, consider yourself permanently attached to SG-22. Debriefing will be in one hour, I suggest you get yourselves cleaned up.”
When he’s gone, Captain Gryffydd claps Billy on the shoulder. “Welcome to SG-22.”
THE END
Current Mood:
lazy
Prompt: writerverse challenge #13 ‘weekly quick fic #5’ (‘taken’ & ‘again and again’)
Bonus: present tense
Word Count: 1, 187
Rating: G
Original/Fandom: Stargate SG-1 ( SG-22, original characters)
Pairings: none
Summary: It’s Billy Chen’s first trip through the ‘gate- but SG-22 is used to missions turning out like this.
Note(s): originally posted to the writerverse wv_bookclub
The Fifth Man
Second Lieutenant Billy Chen wakes up to a dimly-lit room and a pounding headache. It takes a moment for him to remember what happened, since his brain isn’t being particularly cooperative.
Finally, finally he was assigned a gate team- temporarily, of course, and not SG-1, but he hadn’t expected that right out of the Air Force Academy. It was hard not to fidget during the briefing, so much that he’d hardly gotten more than a glance at his new team, then he was stepping through the gate to an alien world.
Then, of course, he was hit with a stun blast and woke up here… wherever that was.
From his left, Billy hears a rustling. “Dammit,” mutters a female voice, belonging to his new CO, Captain Gryffydd. “Not another naquadah mine.”
Billy sits up slowly, his head still throbbing. The other three members of his team- First Lieutenant Tobias, Gunnery Sergeant Vicks and Dr. Flannigan- are getting unsteadily to their feet, and Captain Gryffydd is moving between them, as though checking for injuries.
She stops when she gets to Billy. “You okay?” she asks. “Zat blasts can be pretty nasty the first couple of times.”
Billy manages to nod. “Yes, sir. I mean, ma’am.”
“Stick with Jason, kid,” she tells him, just as Billy begins to hear a clanking sound growing louder. “I know you outrank him, but he’s got more experience at this. Don’t draw attention to yourself, let me do all the talking, and keep your eyes open.”
He nods again. “Yes, sir- ma’am. Um, what…?”
He breaks off when three armored Jaffa march into the room. They all have black symbols on their foreheads, that Billy doesn’t recognize, a stylized sort of sun with squiggly rays.
Captain Gryffydd grins at them. “Ah, good. I believe our bags have already been taken to our rooms, but I wanted to schedule a facial and a mud wrap-”
She breaks off when the lead guard jabs her with the butt of his staff weapon. “Silence! You will serve our glorious master, Mithra. Work well or you will die!”
Billy tries to keep in step with Gunny Vicks as the Jaffa lead them through stone corridors. Ahead, Lieutenant Tobias has taken Captain Gryffydd’s elbow, talking softly to her. Dr. Flannigan appears on Billy’s other side. “Mithra, Iranian god of light,” he says. “In mythology, he was-”
“-incredibly boring, I’m sure,” Gunny Vicks interrupts. “Thanks, Lee.”
Billy opens his mouth, but Captain Gryffydd says loudly, “We’re getting the premium tour, right?”
That gets her another jab with a staff weapon, and Billy keeps his mouth shut. It’s even easier after that- working a mine by hand is more work than he’s ever done at once, worse than Basic Training by several magnitudes. This isn’t anything like Billy imagined when he’d been brought into the Stargate Program. He’d been told it was dangerous, and amazing, and the chance of a lifetime, but this…
Beside him, the rest of his new team work like they’ve done this before, which Gunny Vicks tells him they have, a lot. Captain Gryffydd keeps saying things, loudly, like “When do we get our coffee break?” and “I demand to see my union rep!” until one of the guards knocks her down with a vicious backhand. She gets back up as soon as he’s gone, grinning around a split lip, and goes right back to work.
After what seems like days, SG-22 and the rest of the grubby miners are marched to the surface and into a ramshackle building, where they’re unceremoniously handed bowls of gray mush. If Billy wasn’t so exhausted, he’d probably feel embarrassed by how useless he’d been, barely managing enough work to get by.
“Eat up,” Captain Gryffydd tells him, plopping on the floor beside him. “We’ve got a big day tomorrow.”
“Not tonight?” Dr. Flannigan asks. “I thought we were going for a record?”
“Nah,” says Gunny Vicks. “We’ve got to start over again, new Goa’uld, and all. If this was Hecate still, we’d have escaped already.”
“Yeah, but we blew her up,” adds Lieutenant Tobias.
Billy’s jaw drops. “You blew up a Goa’uld?” he asks, then snaps his mouth shut. “Sir,” he adds.
The captain waves a dismissing hand. “Not an important one. Finish up, boys, and get some sleep. We’ve got a big day tomorrow.”
Around them, the miners are lying down to sleep right there on the floor. Billy tries to keep his distance when his team bunks down in a far corner, but he falls dead asleep in seconds and wakes in a pile of arms and legs as the sun rises.
“Oh, god,” he mutters, but Captain Gryffydd is already on her feet.
“Showtime, boys,” she says. “Who wants to be the distraction today?”
“I’ll take Chen,” says Gunny Vicks, nudging Billy’s arm.
The captain nods. “And you go with them, Toby. Levi and I will grab our gear and meet you at the ‘gate.”
It turns out that by ‘distraction’, Captain Gryffydd means ‘fistfight’. Gunny Vicks and Lieutenant Tobias pull their punches, but the guards don’t. Fortunately, the other miners join in, and in minutes, they have a full-scale riot on their hands.
Captain Gryffydd reappears in the middle of it, a Jaffa staff weapon in her hands. She passes each of them a handgun and a tac vest. “Levi’s got the ‘gate open,” she says.
She fires at the at a group of guards approaching from the barracks- but doesn’t see the one behind her. Billy raises his gun and fires. The first bullet pings against the Jaffa’s armor, but the second and third hit home, dropping the guard in a crumpled heap.
Billy stares, and the captain grabs his arm. “Let’s go,” she says, and Billy follows her. He shoots three more guards on the way to the ‘gate, but doesn’t stop to see if they’re alive or not. Then, SG-22 and two dozen miners are through the wormhole and back in the SGC.
Captain Gryffydd comes through last, firing her staff weapon behind her. “Close the iris!” she yells, and it spirals into place.
Dr. Fraiser bustles them all off to the infirmary, where General Hammond meets them. “Thirty-one hours,” he says, with the hint of a smile. “Your record is twenty-seven.”
“New Goa’uld, sir,” says Captain Gryffydd. “But Lieutenant Chen did well out there. He’ll be an asset to whichever team he’s assigned.”
“Is that so?” General Hammond asks. “Lieutenant, your permanent team assignment will be a matter of-”
“Sir?” Billy interrupts. Yesterday morning, he’d never have had the courage, but today he doesn’t even hesitate. “Sir, if I may… I’d like to stay with SG-22. With your permission.”
“Captain Gryffydd?” asks the general, and she glances over her shoulder at her teammates. They don’t say anything, but she grins.
“We’d be happy to have him, sir,” she says, and General Hammond nods.
“Lieutenant Chen, consider yourself permanently attached to SG-22. Debriefing will be in one hour, I suggest you get yourselves cleaned up.”
When he’s gone, Captain Gryffydd claps Billy on the shoulder. “Welcome to SG-22.”
THE END
Current Mood:
lazy