The sixth in the
On the Outside, Looking In series: episode-related drabbles from the perspective of an outsider or a minor character. There's one here for every episode from Season Six. Rated PG.
Redemption, part one
Angrily, Chekov wondered if Russia would've been better served without the Stargate.
They'd lost many good men, including those on that doomed joint mission. Then Jackson and Davis came begging help, even as they practically admitted the SGC wasn't honoring their agreement. When Jackson talked him into lending the DHD, he'd gone along to supervise -- only to watch its destruction. McKay's tutelage in naquadah technology was definitely a poor exchange.
Now, they rejected adding a Russian to SG-1... and Hammond allowed O'Neill to insult not only Chekov, but his entire people!
The intel about the X-302 was the last straw.
Redemption, part two
When a frustrated Ry'ac demanded to know how the others remained unscathed, Father asserted that evasion required skill. Master Bra'tac, however, wryly added that luck, too, was a factor.
Ry'ac understood -- they would need both to succeed in this mission and save their Tau'ri allies.
He hated being left behind, but his symbiote could only heal him so fast. Oh, if only he hadn't been wounded!
Then it was his turn to demonstrate both skill and luck to save his father, his mentor, and Earth. Angling his ship in a smooth curve, he aimed for the mysterious device and fired.
Descent
Paul stood at attention, eyes staring straight ahead, his posture impeccable.
"Permission to join the mission, sir?" he said formally.
"At ease, Major." Hammond seemed almost amused. "If you can't go through the Stargate, going into space is the next best thing -- is that it?"
Paul allowed himself a smile. "I'm the official laison of the Pentagon to the SGC, sir. A mission involving SG-1 and General Carter, right here in our own solar system, seems to fit well enough."
Hammond chuckled. "Well, you've done the training; I know you can be useful. Very well, Major. You have a go."
Frozen
After years of videoconferencing, it was a pleasure to finally meet Sam Carter face-to-face. Janet Frasier, with all her competence and wicked sense of humor, was an unexpected and delightful surprise.
They'd had a wonderful evening of conversation the night before, but now, all three of them were wholly focused on their mysterious artifact and the sheer impossibility of living tissue.
Delta wave readings from the EEG. Rising temperature. No sign of frostbite (how, how?). A heartbeat!
"Not dead until you're warm and dead," Michaels muttered, and wondered if the Stargate really held marvels greater than this one.
Nightwalkers
Sudden light intrudes into wet, warm darkness. It seethes, squirming among its spawnmates.
When cold metal seizes it and lifts it into the bitter aridity of air, it writhes in instinctive protest, squealing aloud. Then it calms, merely curling in on itself in anticipation. Surely this means that it has been found a host! It will be good to burrow under skin and assert its control.
There. And there. So much better than the drifting aimlessness of waiting with the others. One final link to the nervous system, and...
The connection fails. Fails! How could that be?
Blocked.
Blocked.
No!!!!!
Abyss
"Is it you?" Shallan asked, confused.
She knew the Gao'auld could change their outer aspects, even as they retained their divinity. No good lo'taur could fail to understand the need to instant obedience and obeisance, no matter what form their masters chose to take.
But she had not thought that Kanan might do the same.
"Come on," urged the one who claimed he was Kanan. "We can escape!"
"If I leave with you, he will know!" she protested, frightened.
"You must come," Kanan insisted. "Hurry!"
Uncertain, uneasy, Shallan allowed herself to be tugged forward. Perhaps they could escape, after all.
Shadowplay
"The Tau'ri are offering us their help," the communications officer reported. By dint of sheer will, she managed to keep her voice free of sarcasm.
"How interesting." Vanis leaned back. "And what generous terms are they offering this time, Marlis?"
Marlis glanced down at the decoded message. "Assistance in shielding, Minister, to protect our scientists from radiation."
Hale snorted. "The Tau'ri are getting tiresome. I grow weary of their insistence that only they are advanced enough to deal with naquadriah."
"They think us children," Vanis agreed sourly. "I wonder how they would feel, if others treated them with such condescension."
The Other Guys
The staff weapon fired and Khonsu collapsed, his body suddenly aflame with agony.
He heard Her'ak denounce him as Tok'ra and gloat over his imminent demise. Khonsu -- no, he was Zeram, and if he was dying, he would allow himself to think of his true self -- Zeram communed rapidly with his host, a regretful final parting.
We've had a long journey together, my friend. I'm sorry that I've brought you to the end of it.
We both knew the risk, his host assured him, his mental voice fond. At least we're here together, at the end.
The staff weapon flared white.
Allegiance
As Malek and Selmac spoke with O'Neill, Ocker fought for calm.
He knew the Council valued the Tau'ri alliance. But this O'Neill had used Kanan as a glorified healing device before losing him to Ba'al. O'Neill had also been directly involved in the loss of Zeram, another Tok'ra operative recently murdered... by a Jaffa.
Selmac had cautioned diplomacy, explaining that the Tau'ri deeply resented Kanan's co-opting of his erstwhile host. But as O'Neill insultingly compared the nascent Jaffa rebels to the ages-long struggle of the Tok'ra, Ocker had to remind his host to keep his fists unclenched.
The Cure
Janet brooded in troubled silence. Where should her Hippocratic Oath lead her?
Sentient beings enslaved, offspring harvested and cannibalized. Even if that sentience was Goa'uld, how could they justify their actions?
She remembered Sam, late one night after they'd shared a bottle of vodka, telling her about Daniel's actions on Chulak. How long ago it seemed! The lines had only blurred further since then.
She sighed, looking down at her results. The need to report failure to General Hammond should make her feel better -- they couldn't use the tretonin, anyway. But Janet wished she could find the right answer... somewhere.
Prometheus
Julia and the Air Force guy, who didn't seem to have any rank, sat together on the floor. Al tried to ignore her reproachful gaze as he paced aimlessly back and forth.
After several moments, Julia put on her most earnest television expression. "Al, why are you doing this?"
Al dismissed the slight niggle from his conscience. "They're paying me," he said, shrugging a little.
Her expression shifted to petulance. "We're supposed to be friends!"
Really, Julia. So naive? He clarified dryly, "They're paying me a lot."
How much did she think he earned, anyway? And this was tax-free!
Unnatural Selection
Time twisted, reset, accelerated, slowed. They learned, absorbed, replicated.
Link upon link formed: physical, neural, seamlessly connected into a unique whole. Their enemies had gathered them here to trap them, foolishly underestimating the sheer power of many. Billions upon billions of individual bits operated with uniform thought, choosing their own path of evolution.
Clearly, the female of the species was most powerful, or Reece would not appear so. It would be disrespectful if First were to claim equal status to the Progenitor. Deferentially, First was made male, with only Second taking female form.
Always logical, they alternated: Third. Fourth... Fifth.
Sight Unseen
The formality of the occasion was underscored by the high-ranking attendees in dress uniform. The officers rose to their feet and saluted as General Hammond entered the room.
"At ease," he said crisply. "Be seated."
Once they'd settled, Hammond began. "Our purpose is to discuss the opening of a new off-world base, tentatively called the Gamma Site. All technological and medical artifacts uncovered by SG teams will be brought there instead of Earth."
Hammond looked levelly at his attentive audience. "We can no longer risk exposure and panic on a world-wide scale. Let's keep our planet safe."
Smoke and Mirrors
"This isn't possible," Paul said numbly.
"I assure you, Major Davis," the district attorney said sharply, "no one has tampered with this footage."
Mesmerized, Paul ran the video again. He'd watched in O'Neill in action and knew his history. The colonel had the skills, the experience, the capability.
It even looked like him, but... no.
"I'll take this information to the Pentagon," Paul said aloud, retreating behind smooth phrasing and bland stonewalling. "And the ballistics report, of course."
"Of course," agreed the DA, showing his teeth in a tight grin. "In the meantime, though, we're taking Jack O'Neill into custody."
Paradise Lost
Rath gave Jolen a mental nudge as the communicator sounded.
It's the Tau'ri again, Rath noted. O'Neill must still be missing.
Jolen smoothly took over control of their body and opened communications. "This is Jolen," he said. "How can the Tok'ra assist the Tau'ri?"
"Jolen, this is Major Carter." Selmac's host's daughter sounded unusually stressed, even allowing for the blurring caused by the long-distance transmission. "We have another request regarding Colonel O'Neill."
"Major, I assure you that --"
"I know," she interrupted, "but we have new information. We think they were transported to the planet's moon. Could you try again?"
Metamorphosis
Alebran stumbled between the Tau'ri soldiers as they took him through the chappa'ai. He hoped he could convince their leader to take the threat seriously. Nirrti must be stopped, quickly!
When he'd gasped his way through the shimmering pathway, shivering from both outer and inner cold, he was dismayed at the open hostility and skepticism of the other Tau'ri. He fought to remain calm and rational so he could convey the depth of their danger. But when he could feel the final change beginning, when he felt his very insides liquify and melt away, he panicked and begged for death.
Disclosure
Chekov found he was almost enjoying himself as he deliberately spun the most flimsy of cover stories for the ambassadors of France, China, and Great Britain. His face remained deadpan as he blandly parroted the same tired phrases and excuses that he'd used so often.
Major Davis had quietly briefed him on the day's planned events, and Chekov knew the fabrications would be completely unnecessary in just a few more minutes. But after years of frustrating obfuscation and diplomatic deceptions with foreign representatives, there was satisfaction in knowing that these half-believable lies would soon be replaced by unbelievable truth.
Forsaken
SG-15 fanned out through the Gate, taking defensive positions. Pierce flashed a hand signal at O'Sullivan, who quickly checked the DHD and gave the "working" sign before fading into the undergrowth.
Once the site was secure, Pierce got on his radio to O'Neill. "We have the Gate covered, sir," he reported.
"Good," O'Neill drawled, then warned him of their current threat: an unknown number of aliens, armed and hostile.
"We've got your back, Colonel," Pierce promised, and signed off.
Aliens, eh? Non-humans, then, but not Goa'uld, either. Should be interesting.
"Be ready," he murmured, and settled in to wait.
The Changeling
When Jacob handed the previous vial of tretonin to Dr. Fraiser, Selmac stirred in his mind.
Are you sure it wouldn't be better to tell them?
No, Jacob said firmly. Not now. Not while Teal'c's and Bra'tac's lives hung in the balance.
Later, Jacob thought, he would quietly warn Hammond that some of the Tok'ra preferred to keep the tretonin within their sole jurisdiction, to be doled out to those Jaffa who accepted the Tok'ra's leadership. He would tell Hammond how he and Selmac and some others had fought against the policy, and won the argument... for now, anyway.
Later.
Memento
"Chairman Ashwan, we're picking up a signal!" cried one of the techinicians.
"Let's hear it," Ashwan said tensely, exchanging a grim look with Kelfass.
With mounting incredulity, they listened to the voice from space that begged for clemency.
"They wipe out our electrical systems and they claim it's an accident?" Kelfass was disgusted. "This is a clear act of war, Chairman!"
Ashwan frowned. "But it is possible that it was unintentional." He hesitated, then made up his mind. "We will remain cautious, but let's not destroy them just yet. Visitors from a different world...! I think it's worth the risk."
Prophecy
Janet is too pragmatic -- and the health of her charges too important -- to resent the need to call in specialists when the situation demanded it. The Stargate brings complications: medical mysteries, alien bacteria, mental manipulation. When circumstances go beyond her own skills, she hammers on Hammond's door herself to demand that he get the top consultants, the best surgeons.
This time, it's an brain tumor, caused by alien technology. Sandy Van Densen is the top neuro-surgeon in the country. Her security level isn't technically high enough, but Janet calls in whatever markers she can to save Jonas Quinn's life.
Full Circle
Kasuf remembers personally leading the rebellion against Ra, in the days when both Danyel and Sha'uri lived. He is older now, wearied by pain and loss; and despite his reluctance to confess to any weakness, he delegates the battle to Skaara and leads the young and infirm to the sanctuary of the Kalima caves.
They are well over the horizon when battle joins -- far enough away to be thought safe. But like all others on Abydos, Kasuf witnesses the great spear of light that slashes downward from the heavens and sees the great shock wave of destruction roaring towards them.