Misplaced
A/N: This is my first SG-1 fanfic, so I'd appreciate some pointers if things seem out of place.
"You have a go," General Hammond announced from the control room, giving SG-1 a nod.
Samantha Carter followed her CO into the stargate, Daniel and Teal'c following immediately behind her. She felt her heart slam into her throat as the wormhole suddenly propelled her upwards only to violently shoot her out. She gasped for breath as she threw her arms out in front of her, saving herself the misfortune of slamming her face right into the chevron panel of the stargate she and the rest of SG-1 were being deposited from.
Sam gasped as she felt herself being dragged back into the wormhole, and found herself desperately clinging to the surface of the stargate. It was then that she realized that this particular stargate was not standing upright but lying flat on the ground. She clambered out of the ring with some difficulty, hurrying to straighten herself as she heard the rest of her team being shot out of the wormhole.
O'Neill tumbled straight out of the ring, landing face down on the ground with a grunt. Daniel and Teal'c ended up clinging to the chevrons as she had, and she hurried to assist them. The stargate deactivated as soon as the archaeologist and the Jaffa landed safely on solid ground.
"Well, that was unexpected," Daniel said breathlessly, glancing around.
"I'll say," Jack huffed, getting to his feet and brushing dirt from the front of his BDUs.
Teal'c turned around to observe the stargate, raising an eyebrow at his findings. Sam did the same, hands on her hips as she approached it.
"That's strange," Sam murmured, placing a hand on a chevron. She frowned. "Where did the mobile analytic laboratory probe go if the stargate is recumbent?"
O'Neill shrugged. "Back from whence it came, I guess," he said, wryly.
"This is most unusual," Teal'c said, glancing into the ring. He placed his hand where there was now red stone and dirt in place of the glowing wormhole. "Perhaps this stargate is obsolete."
"We came through it, didn't we? Doesn't seem very obsolete to me."
Daniel walked a few feet forward, finding a DHD behind a natural rock alcove. The DHD panel was covered with a sheen of red dust, which gave him an idea of how 'obsolete' this stargate really was. "Looks as though it hasn't been used in a while," he remarked, signaling for his teammates to come around and look.
O'Neill took one look at the device before touching the first chevron for their address back home, watching with satisfaction as it glowed. He nodded at his team. "Alright, let's get back home."
"What?" Daniel said vehemently. "But we just got here."
"We've got no MALP. Who knows what's floating around in this air," the colonel said.
"Obviously oxygen if we're able to talk and breathe as we're doing now."
"General Hammond did give us a go, sir," Sam interjected. "It's apparent that the MALP did surface for at least an adequate amount of time to carry the necessary data back home. I'm certain that we'll be okay."
O'Neill made a face. "Captain, rarely have we ever gone through the stargate and ended up 'okay,' so don't blame me for being a little pessimistic here. Doesn't it even bug you that our usually right side up stargate is lying face down?"
"Colonel O'Neill," Teal'c cut in. As soon as everyone turned their attentions on him, he said, "If I am not mistaken, our surroundings are not identical to that of the image given to us by the probe."
Everyone's eyes widened as they did a double take.
"You're right," Sam said urgently. "There was some sort of vestibule on the screen, wasn't there?"
Daniel nodded, already beginning to dial in the rest of their home address."That is correct. I recall the image to have been something not unlike the anteroom to an atrium. We must've ended up someplace else."
"Like Mars," Jack said, swiping a hand over the red dust that inhabited the place.
The team heard the hum of the stargate as it began to dial home. The unstable energy shot up like a geyser, immediately destroying the ceiling of the rock alcove above SG-1's heads. Broken shards of rock began to fall over the ring, blocking their only way out.
"No wonder this stargate is obsolete," Jack groused as the rest of the room began to shudder. He grasped Sam by the arm, tugging her in the opposite direction of the stargate.
"Sir?" Sam asked, her voice breaking.
"We obviously can't make like those rocks and take a tumble into the stargate, Captain," he said, signaling for Teal'c and Daniel to follow after him.
They began to run as the room continued to shake, the light from Daniel's flashlight bouncing along the cave walls frenetically.
"I feel wind!" Sam cried, her voice hoarse. She pumped her legs harder, following the soft, humid breeze that blew against her face.
The floor of the cave began to incline, and SG-1 found themselves partially on their hands and knees, bounding upwards towards a yawning exit from whence moonlight spilled through.
The four of them darted out of the cave one by one, continuing to cover about a thousand feet before they sank to their knees. Sam turned her head in the direction of the cave, watching breathlessly as its mouth buckled in on itself.
"What now?" Daniel murmured.
O'Neill dug his hands into the sand beneath them as if realizing it for the first time. He surveyed their surroundings as a cool breeze swept through his hair.
"It appears we're on a beach of some kind," Teal'c commented.
Sam nodded. "Seems so. The air is salty."
Daniel continued to gaze in the direction of the cave, squinting his eyes against the sand particles assaulting his face. He pointed his flashlight in front of him, finding that the beam did nothing to penetrate the darkness.
"Alright," Jack said with a sigh. "Time for a bit of a field trip. Buddy up and let's go."
They stood to their feet, Jack and Teal'c up front while Sam and Daniel brought up the rear. They trudged through the sand, ending up where they'd been last. Teal'c and Jack were skimming the wall of broken rock when Daniel piped up, "Wait a sec."
"Find anything interesting, Danny?" Jack asked, grimacing as he found that the rocks were piled up and packed tightly.
"Yeah, actually," the archaeologist said, his voice hushed. "Shh! Listen."
The team members of SG-1 grew quiet. There was the sound of crashing waves in the distance, but more than that . . .
"I hear it!" Sam whispered with hushed urgency.
"I do not hear anything out of the ordinary," Teal'c said.
"That's because what we're hearing isn't out of the ordinary," Daniel said, pointing past the cave. "I hear cars — or at least vehicles — moving. There might be a road out there."
O'Neill nodded his approval. "Let's go."
SG-1 circled the perimeter of the cave, finding behind it dunes and tall grasses. And beyond that, a stretch of inky black road.
"That looks like asphalt," Sam said.
"Let's watch for another vehicle," Jack said. "If it happens to be a one way street, we'll know where to walk towards. If not, we could stop someone, maybe ask where the nearest town is."
Sam made her way towards the edge of the road, looking to the left and right of her. It was moments later did she find two oncoming headlights zooming towards her to her left. She backed up some and stuck her thumb out as soon as the light of the vehicle's high beams swept over her.
The vehicle — an SUV, to be precise — slowed to a stop a few feet ahead of her. She walked the short distance, offering a friendly smile as the passenger door window rolled down.
"Hi there," Sam greeted the young girl in the window. "Uh, we're a bit lost . . . "
The girl took in Sam's fatigues, and then looked beyond her at Teal'c, Daniel, and O'Neill. "You look lost," she remarked.
"What's the nearest town?" Jack asked, stepping forward.
"San Mateo," the girl replied. "It's pretty far off, though. We're just off the coast."
"Off the coast of where?" Daniel asked, blushing when O'Neill glared at him. "Um, we don't do this hitchhiking thing often."
The girl glanced at the driver — another young girl — who gave them a warm smile.
"Off Martins Beach," she said. "We're on 92. If you want, we can get you to the nearest gas station. Maybe you could call up your folks or a taxi service. . . "
"That would be helpful, thank you," Sam said.
The girl in the passenger's side hopped out of the car to open the back door for them. Daniel and Jack clambered into the third row while Sam and Teal'c occupied the middle seats.
"I'm Sam," the captain said. "These are my friends Teal'c, Jack O'Neill, and Daniel Jackson."
"I'm Dawn," the girl in the passenger's seat said with a smile. "This is my friend, Janice."
"So, I'm guessing you're not from around here," O'Neill said as Janice pulled back onto the road.
"No, we're from Sunnydale," Janice said. "My boyfriend just graduated from high school and he and a bunch of our other friends had a bonfire at Martins Beach."
"Sweet," the colonel muttered, glancing at Daniel pointedly.
"Uh, the only Sunnyvale I know of is in California, Jack," Daniel said, keeping his voice low.
The colonel's eyebrows found their way to the middle of his forehead. "California," he deadpanned.
Dawn turned around, frowning thoughtfully at them. "You're . . . really not from around here, are you?"
Sam gave her a cheerful grin. "No, not really."
"Maybe we could take you back home with us," she said. "My sister and her friends are really nice. Maybe they could help with . . . whatever you need help with."
Jack tried his best to look innocuous. "What makes you think we need help with anything?"
Dawn gave their fatigues and armory a pointed look. "There aren't any paintball ranges here for miles, and it isn't likely that anyone who can afford paintball gear would need to hitchhike anywhere."
"Brilliant deductions," O'Neill said with a defeated sigh. "Alright. Take me to your leader."
Dawn and Janice exchanged suspicious looks with one another before directing their eyes back onto the road.
"You in the military?" Dawn asked. "Is your base around here or something?"
Jack nodded slowly. "Or something."
The girl gave them a sheepish smile. "Sorry. You're probably not allowed to show and tell."
"Not really, no," Sam chuckled.
It was about forty minutes in did they roll up onto a ramp. Dawn glanced at the digital clock on the dashboard. It read 2:46.
"Crap, Buffy's going to kill me," Dawn groused.
"Our presence will probably soften the blow, some," Daniel remarked, sounding amused.
Janice turned onto Revello Drive, stopping in front of a two floor house shrouded by a cluster of trees. Just off the pathway to the porch was a tall California fan palm. The lights on the first floor were on.
"Good luck," Janice said with a snort.
"Yeah, thanks," Dawn said with an eye roll, hopping out and sliding open the back door for their hitchhikers.
"Dawnie, do you know what time it is?" a petite blonde demanded as soon as the young girl reached the door.
The teenager pointedly looked at her cell phone. "It's 2:58."
"In the morning," she huffed. She looked past her at the four figures standing in front of the porch steps. "Who are they?"
Dawn grinned. "Buffy, these are some hitchhikers we picked up."
Buffy glared hard at the younger girl. "You do know that you're setting yourself up for a grounding?"
"Ah, I remember those years," Jack said with a pleasant smile, cradling his semi-rifle to his torso in a relaxed manner. "Sorry to intrude. You could just call up a taxi service if you want."
The petite blonde gave he and the rest of his team a pensive frown. "Pretty sure a taxi driver won't let you take those into a cab," she said tiredly. "If you could wait until morning, I can have someone give you a ride to a hotel or something."
Jack grinned. "Yeah, because hotels will be even more receptive to guests holding ammunition."
"We could bury them, Colonel," Sam suggested. "Come back for it later as soon as we find a way home."
"Where is home, exactly?" Dawn asked.
"Well," Daniel murmured, "I get the impression that we're far, far away."
"There's a chance that we're still on Earth, sir," Sam said, coming close to the colonel with her voice lowered.
"Yeah, and that chance is very slim. Although honestly, I've always considered California to be an alternate dimension altogether," Jack murmured, his eyebrows raised.
"Look, you guys can come in," Buffy said wearily, motioning towards the open door. "I have an extra room, and then there's the couch and a cot in the basement."
"That will suffice. I do not sleep," Teal'c said with a nod.
At Buffy and Dawn's weird looks, O'Neill cleared his throat and gave them a broad smile. "Thanks, girls. We owe you one."
They entered the house, and Jack and his team loitered in the living room.
"Carter can have the extra room. It's safe to say that Daniel's the least threatening of us all, so perhaps you can stay on the couch."
"Least threatening?" Buffy asked guardedly, giving them a piercing look.
"Okay, bad choice of wording," Jack said, smiling when nothing came to mind.
"What he probably means to say is that I look less threatening, and if anyone were to see me sleeping on your couch, I wouldn't cause as much alarm as they would." It suddenly dawned on him how Jack was describing him as, and he shot the colonel a skeptical look. "Jack, do you really — "
"Really not helping," she remarked.
Jack directed his kind smile onto the archaeologist, although he seemed to be pinning him with it. "Daniel," he said warningly.
"I'd say this is weird, but then things are always weird around here," Dawn remarked, shaking her head and making her way up the stairs.
Jack pointed up the stairs, glancing at Buffy. "Um, what exactly did she mean by that?"
