It's only just beginning: chapter 1
Title: It's only just beginning
Author: Betty (sarah_jones on lj)
Fandoms: Stargate, Stargate Atlantis, Primeval, JAG, Doctor Who/Torchwood, Animorphs & Angel
Rating: M
Disclaimer: I don’t own any of the characters or fandoms. I wish I did… *g* I don’t make any money with this! I’m just writing the story for fun and hope someone else will enjoy it, too.
Summary: The story starts after the Stargate Atlantis season finale. There will be new enemies and new adventures, as well as new characters from other fandoms. Old enemies and older characters will return as well.
This is the first story in years that I’m writing alone. It means I’m going to have to write characters I never wrote before and I hope I’ll manage to keep them in character.
The story will be written from different points of view. This way thoughts can be included for several characters and a better inside into the character is possible.
But as I’m writing the story alone there will be no role-play format like in my previous stories, which should make it easier for readers. At least that’s what I hope. ;-)
I’m german and my English isn’t and probably never will be perfect. I hope I don’t make too many mistakes. Feel free to point out errors so I can learn and improve.
I don’t have a beta reader. I wish I did, but until I find one you’ll have to deal with my mistakes. Sorry! That said, would anyone like to become my beta reader? I’d really appreciate it!
About the story:
It is set in the Stargate universe, but characters from other fandoms will be included.
fandoms & characters:
Some characters will be more important than others.
For those interested I will provide links to the characters profiles on Wikipedia. This might help if you don’t know a fandom or character. But you should be able to get to know all characters during the story.
I'm also adding some icons that I made myself so you can see what people look like.
main characters:
Animorphs:
Captain Rachel Berenson: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rachel_(Animorphs)
She is an AU version of the character. She didn’t really die like in the books. When the Ellimist came to her and explained everything he offered Rachel a reward. She could live in another reality that was similar to her own, but where the Yeerks don’t exist. Rachel took the deal. She still remembers her life, but in addition also has memories of a normal life in this reality. Those memories however seem surreal, because she knows she didn’t actually live that life.
After finishing high school Rachel joined the Marine Corps. She is 27 now.
I haven’t read the Ellimist Chronicles yet, so nothing of that is relevant in my story.
So that you can imagine what Rachel looks like, here is what I picture her to look like: http://www.charming.aislin.net/sarah.jpg Rachel is supposed to look like a model, so I picked the Germany’s Next Topmodel candidate Sarah Knappik. ;-)
Doctor Who/Torchwood:
Captain Jack Harkness: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Harkness
Dr. Martha Jones: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martha_Jones
They will come from before “turn left” (Doctor Who episode 4.11) and it will be AU after that.
Martha Jones stopped working for UNIT and joined the Stargate program.
Jack Harkness joins the story from after Torchwood season 2.
Primeval:
Captain Jason Becker: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain_Becker
Captain Becker doesn’t have a first name in the series so far, so I chose one. He comes from after season 3.
Stephen Hart: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Hart_(Primeval)#Stephen_Hart
Stephen comes from the end of season 2, just before he died in the show.
Stargate:
Colonel Samantha Carter: http://stargate.wikia.com/wiki/Samantha_Carter
Lt. Colonel Cameron Mitchell: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cameron_Mitchell_(Stargate)
Major General Jack O’Neill: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_O%27Neill
Stargate Atlantis:
Lieutenant Laura Cadman: http://stargate.wikia.com/wiki/Laura_Cadman
Colonel Samantha Carter: http://stargate.wikia.com/wiki/Samantha_Carter
Lt. Colonel John Sheppard: http://stargate.wikia.com/wiki/John_Sheppard
Auroras 1st officer Sheila Trebal: http://stargate.wikia.com/wiki/Trebal Her 1st name is made up by me.
Dr. Elizabeth Weir: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Weir_(Stargate)
other characters:
Angel:
Winifred “Fred” Burkle: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Burkle
She will come to Atlantis shortly before she died in Angel season 5.
Doctor Who:
Donna Noble: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donna_Noble
Mickey Smith: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mickey_Smith
Sally Sparrow: http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Sally_Sparrow
the tenth Doctor: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctor_Who#The_Doctor
Rose Tyler: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rose_Tyler
The characters will all come from before “turn left” (Doctor Who episode 4.11) and it will be AU after that. Rose and Mickey have not yet returned from the alternate reality. Donna is still travelling with the doctor.
JAG:
Ensign Mattie Grace Johnson: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Characters_of_JAG#Mattie_Grace_Johnson
Lt. Colonel Sarah MacKenzie: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_MacKenzie
Captain Harmon Rabb: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harmon_Rabb
The characters all come from after the series. Harm ‘won’ when they threw the coin, so he took the job in London and Mac went with him. They got married. Mac became a civilian lawyer.
Mattie went with them to London and recovered from her accident. After finishing school she joined the Navy.
Stargate:
Lieutenant Cassandra Fraiser: http://stargate.wikia.com/wiki/Cassandra
Dr. Daniel Jackson: http://stargate.wikia.com/wiki/Daniel_Jackson
Vala Mal Doran: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vala_Mal_Doran
Colonel Jack O’Neill (the clone): 21 years old now
Jonas Quinn: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonas_Quinn
Teal’c: http://stargate.wikia.com/wiki/Teal%27c
Stargate Atlantis:
Amelia Banks: http://stargate.wikia.com/wiki/Amelia_Banks
Ronon Dex: http://stargate.wikia.com/wiki/Ronon_Dex
Teyla Emmagan (+ her son Torren John Emmagan): http://stargate.wikia.com/wiki/Teyla_Emmagan
Lieutenant Aiden Ford: http://stargate.wikia.com/wiki/Aiden_Ford
Dr. Jennifer Keller: http://stargate.wikia.com/wiki/Jennifer_Keller
Major Evan Lorne: http://stargate.wikia.com/wiki/Lorne
Dr. Rodney McKay: http://stargate.wikia.com/wiki/Rodney_McKay
Original characters:
officer Sharon Trebal: Sheila Trebal's younger sister. She looks like Elisabeth Harnois.
minor characters:
Primeval:
Abby Maitland: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abby_Maitland#Abby_Maitland
James Lester: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Peregrine_Lester#James_Lester
Jenny Lewis: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jenny_Lewis_(Primeval)#Jenny_Lewis
Dr. Sarah Page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Page#P
Danny Quinn: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Primeval_characters#Danny_Quinn
Connor Temple: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connor_Temple#Connor_Temple
Stargate:
Dr. Carolyn Lam: http://stargate.wikia.com/wiki/Lam
Stargate Atlantis:
Dr. Carson Beckett (the clone): http://stargate.wikia.com/wiki/Carson_Beckett
Colonel Steven Caldwell: http://stargate.wikia.com/wiki/Caldwell
Chuck: http://stargate.wikia.com/wiki/Chuck
Sergeant Dusty Mehra: http://stargate.wikia.com/wiki/Dusty_Mehra
Jeannie Miller + family: http://stargate.wikia.com/wiki/Jeannie_Miller
Dr. Alison Porter: http://stargate.wikia.com/wiki/Alison_Porter
Sora: http://stargate.wikia.com/wiki/Sora
Major Anne Teldy: http://stargate.wikia.com/wiki/Anne_Teldy
Todd, the Wraith: http://stargate.wikia.com/wiki/Todd
Dr. Radek Zelenka: http://stargate.wikia.com/wiki/Zelenka
Torchwood:
Gwen Cooper: http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Gwen_Cooper
Lois Habiba: http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Lois_Habiba
Ianto Jones: http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Ianto_Jones
Alright, that should be everyone for now. I might add more characters later.
pairings:
I’m not entirely sure on all pairings yet. I have some ideas, but am open to others, too. So, if you have any suggestions now or later, please feel free to let me know. You might be lucky and get your “wish-couple”. *g*
The following characters will definitely end up together:
- Jack O’Neill & Sam Carter
- John Sheppard & Elizabeth Weir
- Daniel Jackson & Vala MalDoran
- Cameron Mitchell & Sheila Trebal
- The Doctor & Rose Tyler
- Harmon Rabb & Sarah MacKenzie
- Gwen Cooper & Rhys Williams
- Abby Maitland & Connor Temple
The following characters will most likely end up together:
- Mickey Smith & Martha Jones
- Jack Harkness & an AU version of Gwen Cooper
- Ronon Dex & Amelia Banks
- Rodney McKay & Jennifer Keller
- Teyla Emmagan & Jonas Quinn
- Carson Beckett & Alison Porter
- Major Lorne & Fred Burkle
- Captain Becker & Laura Cadman
- Stephen Hart & Rachel Berenson
The following couples are possible:
- Jack O’Neill (clone) & Cassie as well as Aiden Ford & Mattie Johnson. But I might switch between those pairings.
- Teal’c & Donna Noble - not sure if that’d work, but it might be fun. Donna does like guys who don’t talk much anyway, and Teal’c can be quiet. ;-)
- Radek Zelenka & Carolyn Lam
Well, you see I like pairing most characters off. I want to see them happy. But there usually is some drama first. Just fluff isn’t my thing.
I started making videoclips and made one for the first part of this story. It's added below the part it's about. I hope you like it. Maybe there will be more soon.
Anyway, enough with all the rambling! Here we finally go….
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Day 1: at the SGC:
Sirens blared as General Hank Landry entered the control room.
Unauthorized off-world activation.
Landry frowned. “There are no teams off-world anymore,” he said as the shield closed and they all looked through the glass window down into the gate room. It was late and SG-5 had just returned about 10 minutes ago. They were the last team to get home.
“No identification code transmitted,” the technician on duty said.
So it wasn’t one of their allies trying to contact them, Landry thought.
“Any transmissions?”
“No, nothing, sir.”
The next second they heard a noise as something hit the shield from the other side.
Everyone waited in anticipation. Then whatever hit the shield exploded.
Click to view
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Day 1: Atlantis:
Teyla was standing on a balcony, Torren in her arms. Her son had just fallen asleep and she used the quiet to look at the beautiful city she could see in the distance. There were millions of lights glowing in the darkness, in all kinds of colours.
For most people from her galaxy a city like this was unthinkable. But here, in this galaxy, civilisations were able to grow without being culled and having their technical progress destroyed by the Wraith.
They were on Earth for over a month now and Teyla had even been on the mainland twice, but it still seemed so surreal and strange. She hoped that one day the people back in Pegasus would be as lucky as this planet.
Teyla was just about to turn around and head to her room when the cities alarm system went off. Startled Teyla began to rush towards the control room. An alarm going off was nothing unusual in Atlantis, but nothing had happened since they landed on Earth. Teyla had started to feel safe on the planet.
A few minutes later she arrived in the control room and went over to Colonel Sheppard and Rodney.
“What is happening?” she asked.
“I’m not entirely sure yet,” Rodney snapped while hovering over some readings.
“We just arrived,” John told her looking a little worried.
The colour drained from Rodney’s face.
“What is it?” John wanted to know as Ronon stepped next to him. Torren started to cry in Teyla's arms, not liking the alarm at all.
Rodney ignored John and pressed a few buttons. “Stargate Command, this is Atlantis, can you hear me?” he asked and waited. Nothing. “Is anyone there?” Rodney pressed. There was only silence.
“Oh god,” Rodney muttered.
“What is it?” John demanded. “Rodney?” His voice sounded agitated and worried.
Rodney slowly turned to face them. “They… I think they are… gone,” he stammered.
“What?” John and Ronon asked at the same time.
“What do you mean, gone?” John clarified after Rodney didn’t answer right away.
“There was a big explosion. Atlantis picked it up and the alarm went off. The source is here…” He pressed another button and a map appeared on a big screen. A red x marked the location of the explosion. It was Cheyenne Mountain.
“Okay, something exploded at the SGC. That doesn’t mean they are gone… like in… gone,” John stated hoping that it wasn’t that bad. A lot of things had exploded in Atlantis for example and the city was still there.
“Stargate Command, this is Sheppard. Do you read?” he asked trying to contact the SGC again. They couldn’t be gone!
No one replied.
“I don’t think there is much left,” Rodney stammered after checking something on his laptop. “The explosion was enormous.”
“Crap,” John muttered.
“Let’s go,” he said and turned around.
“What? Where?” Rodney muttered, still looking rather pale.
“The jumper bay,” John stated in a matter of fact voice.
“Try to figure out what happened, Rodney, and send all available teams to the jumper bay. We need to get to the SGC ASAP.”
“Okay,” Rodney answered.
“And turn the damn alarm off.” John was feeling agitated enough. The blaring alarm was only making it worse.
He walked side by side with Ronon. “You better stay here, Teyla,” he then said, noticing that she followed. They had no idea what they were going into. There might be more explosions and nothing useful she could do. She should stay with Torren, and someone had to stay back and take command anyway. Woolsey had been at the SGC, talking about the future of the Stargate program with General Landry and the IOA for the past days. John really hoped the man had been staying at a hotel nearby and not used one of the SGC’s sleeping quarters.
Teyla was about to protest when she remembered that Woolsey wasn’t there and that John had just ordered Rodney to send all teams to the SGC. Someone had to stay back. She nodded and went to find someone to baby-sit Torren.
As John and Ronon left the control room they ran into Major Lorne and several marines. John gestured for them to join him and they followed, just as the alarm turned off and Rodney’s voice boomed over the cities communication system.
----- ----- ----- ----- -----
Day 3: London:
Major General Jack O’Neill shivered slightly as he walked towards a house in London. Everything looked the same, each and every single house on the street. How did anyone find their own home in a place like this?
And why wasn’t he wearing something warmer? He should have known that it was much colder in London than in California, where he was about 10 minutes ago. The Daedalus had beamed him directly from Atlantis to London, where he was going to start recruiting.
He sighed. He thought he left the Stargate program behind, he really did, but two days ago everything had changed. After a huge explosion Cheyenne Mountain was gone. No one had survived, not even a single person that had been at Stargate Command! His heart ached when he thought of all the people that were inside. He knew most of them, even called some of them friends. They were all dead now.
Jack had been at home in bed, watching TV, enjoying his second week of being retired - again - when the call came. Now he was back - again. How many times had he tried to retire already? He really should know better by now. Retiring just wasn’t a good idea. Something bad happened every time! Maybe it was a cosmic joke, or a way of telling him that he wasn’t done. He didn’t know and probably didn’t want to anyway.
After checking that he really was in front of the right house Jack walked towards it. This was his first stop. He was in charge of the Stargate program once more and they needed new personnel badly. There were several people eager to join - even though they didn’t have a clue as to what they signed up for yet - but Jack had decided that he only wanted the best. He had made a list of people that friends had recommended and they would get an invitation to join. First however, he was going to invite someone he knew personally.
Standing in front of the door Jack rang the bell and waited, rubbing his hands for warmth. It didn’t take long and the door opened. He grinned, pushing away all the sad thoughts.
Sarah MacKenzie opened the door and stared at the man on the other side. She hadn’t seen him in years and he had aged a lot, his hair completely grey by now, but she still recognized him. He was wearing a uniform that showed him as a Major General with the US Air Force.
“Still not retired then,” she said and returned his grin.
“Not for a lack of trying on my part, believe me,” Jack answered and his grin disappeared slightly.
“You going to invite me in?” he then quickly added. “It’s freezing out here!”
“Of course, sir,” Mac said chuckling slightly and stepped aside to let him enter. “There is a thing called cloak, you know,” she then teased.
“Didn’t need one until about 10 minutes ago,” Jack replied while following Mac into the living room.
Mac raised an eyebrow at that, but didn’t comment. She was wondering why Jack was visiting her now. He was an old friend of her uncle and she had seen him a lot while growing up, but it had been years now since they last spoke.
“You want something to drink?” she asked, trying to be nice even though she was really curious what this was about.
“No, thank you,” Jack replied and stopped looking around to sit down on the couch.
“Nice place,” he commented.
Mac nodded but didn’t say anything about it. She had the feeling that Jack wasn’t here for small talk.
“So, what brings you here?” she asked when he didn’t say anything else.
“What, can’t I just visit an old friend without a reason?” he replied with a smirk.
“Jack, I haven’t seen you in almost 13 years.” They didn’t have much contact after she joined the military, but saw each other at family reunions regularly. Then he suddenly stopped showing up. He probably still saw her uncle from time to time, but she couldn’t even be sure about that.
“Yeah, right. I’ve been… busy.”
“Saving the world, I know,” she said laughing slightly. It was her uncle’s favourite excuse. Jack probably used the same.
“Actually… yes, you could say that.” He grinned, but then turned serious again.
For a moment Mac thought he looked tired and sad. Something must have happened, something bad.
“What is it?” she asked. “Did something happen? Does it involve my uncle?” When had she last heard from him? About two weeks ago, she thought. Two weeks were a long time. A lot could happen in two weeks!
Jack stared at her. She knew him well, even after such a long time. “O'Hara is fine. At least he was when we talked about you on the phone yesterday.“
Mac let out a sigh of relief.
“I’m here to offer you a job.”
Mac stared at Jack now. He was what? “A job? You do know I left the military, right?” Harm had ‘won’ when they threw the coin. He got the promotion to Captain and they moved to London. She left the military and became a civilian lawyer. And they got married.
“And besides, I’m a Marine.” She still felt like one anyway. “You’re Air Force.”
Jack smirked. “Who cares about something like that?” Yes, the different military branches didn’t always get along, but who cared about something like that on a different planet? They were all Americans, or better they were all simply Humans out there.
“The job I’m offering is kind of a matter of international security.”
Mac stared at him again. She never knew exactly what Jack did for the Air Force. Her uncle often joked that it was all top secret and classified. Maybe he wasn’t joking after all… you didn’t get two stars for sitting behind a desk and doing nothing after all, she thought as she glanced at Jack’s uniform.
“What kind of job is it exactly?” she asked curiously.
“That’s classified,” he confirmed. “I can’t tell you unless you are interested and signed a non-disclosure agreement. And you’d have to pass some tests, which I’m sure you’d have no difficulties with.” He sounded really confident, which was nice. It had been four years since Mac left the Marine Corps and by now she wasn’t sure about her own abilities any more. Of course she trained and tried to keep up, but it wasn’t that easy when you were a civilian. At least it felt that way. Maybe Jack needed a lawyer? But it didn’t really sound that way. It sounded like it was way more… complicated than that.
“So I’m supposed to get back on active duty, leave everything behind and join your secret operation without even knowing what it’s about?” It was more a statement than a question, but to her it was a really big question. She had no clue what exactly Jack was offering, and she liked her life with Harm. They were happy together. All the fears they had had before getting together were stupid. She couldn’t imagine a life without him anymore. And he had ‘won’. Fate had decided that they should come to London. But all of that didn’t change the fact that she missed the Marine Corps. She loved the military and she was a good Marine.
“Well…yes,” Jack answered, grinning again. “We need people like you, Mac. I need people like you, someone I can trust.” They still weren’t completely sure who was responsible for the explosion at the SGC, and he definitely wasn’t willing to just accept anyone that was sent to the SG program as loyal. This could be a plot to get spies in. The more people Jack picked himself the better he would feel.
“And come on, you can’t tell me that you like this life,” he added.
“Excuse me?” Mac snapped. “This is the life I chose!” …or as close to it as she could get, she added in thoughts. If things had gone her way she would still be a Marine, but one of them had to give up their career and fate chose her.
“Right,” Jack muttered. “You could be doing so much more, Mac. And trust me, this is the opportunity of a lifetime! I can’t tell you what exactly it’s all about right now, but it’s… amazing.” Part of him wasn’t sure if amazing was the right word. The life he was leading wasn’t always fun; it wasn’t all amazing. It was a hard life as well. The past days had shown exactly that; but if he could do it all over again he would join the SGC again.
“You sure about that?” Mac asked noticing his hesitation.
Damn, she knew him well. “Yes. Yes, I am sure. The things I know… the things I’ve seen. I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”
Mac sighed. She still didn’t know what kind of job it was, but somehow she wanted it. In this moment it stood for all her longing to be a marine again. But what about Harm? Would he come with her? Would he even be allowed to? At least Mattie had joined the Navy already and was gone anyway, so that wasn’t a problem.
“What about my husband?” Mac asked.
“He could relocate with you. I’m sure he’d find a job in California.”
“So the job is in California?”
“Well, mostly,” Jack said, not really knowing how to put it all without giving away too much.
“You’d go on missions to - well, somewhere else - but you’d mainly be stationed in California - for now.” There was no way of knowing if Atlantis would stay in the Milky Way forever, but with the current situation and as they still didn’t have more ZPM’s Atlantis was stuck on Earth. It was also the way he liked it, especially since Area 51 and the ancient chair had been destroyed by the Wraith.
That sounded interesting. Mac liked being a lawyer, but she had been nothing but a lawyer for almost four years now. And she missed America. London was fine, but she had started to feel a bit tired of it sometimes. She was ready to go home.
“We could do with some legal advice from time to time as well,” Jack then added, especially since Atlantis was located in the Pacific Ocean near San Francisco and the whole area needed to be kept clear by the Navy.
When Mac smiled Jack knew he had her. “Why don’t you think about it for a bit and talk to your husband.” Jack offered.
“Sounds good.”
Jack fished a calling card out of his pocket and handed it to her. “Call me tomorrow and we can make arrangements.”
“Tomorrow?” Mac asked with a frown. So much for having time to think about it…
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More will come soon. I hope you like the story already. Sorry for killing off some characters. I don’t have anything against them, but someone had to die to make things work the way I want them to.
poster / book cover for this chapter:
chapter 2
timeline for all chapters