A/N Hi. Yes, I am alive. I just left writing for a while (2 years in fact!), but recently a couple of you have sent me reviews for my old stories, and I thought "Hey, the time has come to write again". So here we are! It has been surprisingly easy to sit down and start writing again. Of course, it might be rubbish - feel free to let me know! Nice reviews are welcome too! In fact, any kind of review to let me know what everyone is thinking would be nice! It's been a long time!
Anyway, on with the story.
SUMMARY: If Stargate was made by Disney, this is what it would be. At least, in my head this is how it would be. It'll be fun, it'll be sweet, it'll be slightly surreal... It'll be Sam/Daniel by the end, so if you're a Sam/Jack fan you've wandered into the wrong camp. Enjoy... x
Once upon a time, there was an enterprising young species who managed to get their hands on space travel technology. They set up a project with the purpose of finding out more about the galaxy. People went off to other planets in teams of four and reported back to Earth what they found. One such team was called SG1. This is a story about how two team members found love on one of the foreign planets they visited.
Chapter 1
The wormhole engaged.
Colonel Jack O'Neill turned to his team. "You know when they make a movie of my life? Everyone will want an alarm clock that makes that noise."
Major Samantha Carter shared a look with her team mates, but Colonel O'Neill wasn't finished. "We could make little stargate bottle openers."
"Sure. They could have mini event horizons that disengage and behead the bottle." Sam remarked as she walked up the ramp to the stargate.
Jack grinned. "Do I sense that you want a little role in my movie? Jealous, perhaps?" He said teasingly as the rest of the team joined her at the event horizon.
"I can't think of anything I'd like more, sir. My life, on the big screen."
"My life story. You can be lead female if you want. We'll make an action doll of you. It'll be great. Brothers everywhere can behead you with their parents' bottle opener." Colonel O'Neill stepped through the event horizon, followed swiftly by Teal'c.
Doctor Daniel Jackson grinned at Sam. "At least you'll get a role. I'm the geeky sidekick. I'll be lucky if I'm not replaced by a computer."
Sam grinned back and the remaining two members of SG1 stepped through the gate into the world beyond.
X
"Well, this is... What's the word I am looking for?" Jack paused as he thought about this.
"Clean? Colourful? Vibrant?" Daniel listed words as he took in their surroundings. The gate behind them disengaged and a gentle peace settled on the area.
"Weird. The word I want is weird. Is it just me or does everything seem more colourful here? Like the Wizard of Oz when Dorothy arrives in Oz and suddenly everything is in Technicolor."
Sam nodded, for once understanding what the Colonel was referring to. "It looked... colourful on the MALP monitors, but I just assumed that the settings were wrong on the video."
They had arrived in the middle of what appeared to be a clearing in woodland. Everything was coloured as it should be: trees were dark green; the grass was light green; the sky was blue; the flowers were yellow, orange, purple, red... Everything was right, and yet everything was wrong. It was as though someone had turned up the contrast on the scenery, bringing everything to the most brilliant colour they could.
"It's quite pleasant actually." Daniel remarked after a minute's silence from the other team members. "It has an almost dream-like quality to it, don't you think?"
"I don't like it." Jack said firmly. "Something is awry."
Daniel raised an eyebrow. "Don't you think you're being a bit paranoid, Jack? This isn't actually Oz. You can't judge a planet on its appearance."
"Sure I can. We do it all the time. How many planets do we not even visit because of what the MALP transmits back?"
Daniel rolled his eyes and shrugged, looking to Teal'c for a comment.
Teal'c took a step towards the edge of the clearing. "There does not appear to be any threat yet, Colonel O'Neill. The birds are singing and everything seems quite calm."
"Right. Anyone got a preference on which way we go? I personally am favouring the little footpath over there." Jack gestured to a narrow path worn into the grass that headed off into the woodland.
Daniel and Sam nodded agreement and they headed off down the path in single file.
Daniel watched as a blue butterfly flew lazily passed them, before disappearing into the sun-dappled undergrowth to their right. "The wildlife certainly seems to be thriving here. Look!" He pointed to two more butterflies, red this time, dancing on the footpath a little way ahead of them.
"The birds haven't stopped singing since we arrived," Sam added.
Silence descended on SG1 as they listened to the birds. A gentle breeze ran through the wood, bringing the scent of flowers and the distant sound of two voices talking. Jack held up a hand and the team paused.
"I've not seen them before."
"They might be lost."
"How can you get lost here? Everything is clearly marked."
"They are humans. They don't navigate like we do, Grandpa. We should help them. Can we?"
Daniel and Sam looked at each other. "Humans?" He mouthed at her. Her hand tightened on her rifle, and she noticed the others doing the same.
"They have weapons, Oliver. We are leaving." The first voice murmured lightly on the breeze.
"Can anyone see anything?" Jack whispered slowly to the rest of the team.
Three heads shook a reply. "Damn."
"Hello? Is anyone there?" Daniel asked loudly, relaxing his grip on his rifle.
"Daniel!" Jack hissed.
"Hello? We don't mean any harm." Daniel looked at Jack. "Do we?"
"No. Of course not. Unless they mean any harm, in which case we mean lots."
"Grandpa! They are talking to us! I am going to greet them. Grandma says a stranger is just a friend you haven't met yet."
There was a rustle in the undergrowth far away to the left and as one SG1 focussed their view on the movement through the undergrowth.
"Oliver! You get back here right now!" A voice hissed angrily.
A leaf drifted down on to the footpath next to them. "Hello. My name is Oliver, but you can call me Ollie." A voice said shyly.
A heavy silence appeared to descend on the woodland.
"Oliver! I am so sorry," the second voice announced, joining the first slightly out of breath. "You know how children can be. In my day, we did not disobey our relatives and introduce ourselves to perfect strangers."
Jack cleared his throat. "Daniel?" His hand remained tightly clamped to his rifle, but he lowered the end slightly.
"Jack?" Daniel replied, equally nonplussed.
"Are those animals talking to us?"
Daniel looked to Sam and Teal'c for confirmation, but both looked as confused as he did. Ok, he thought. I'm the linguist. I must take control of the situation. "Hello Ollie. I'm Daniel. These are my friends: Jack, Sam and Teal'c." He indicated to each one in turn.
The smaller of the two foxes appeared to grin. "This is my Grandpa, Grandpa Gordon." The young voice said proudly.
"Pleased to meet you." The elder voice said gruffly, eyeing each of the weapons in turn.
"Jack, point your rifle at the ground." Daniel murmured, letting go of his own weapon.
Jack appeared to weigh up the situation, before pointing his gun at the ground and gesturing for Sam and Teal'c to do the same.
"Hi." He said awkwardly, staring at the foxes. "So... We're not from these parts."
"I know!" The young fox said eagerly. "Grandpa Gordon knows everyone and he didn't recognise you."
Jack nodded, apparently unsure of how to reply to that comment. Daniel stepped up again.
"In fact, where we come from, foxes don't talk at all." He briefly wondered whether it was diplomatic to mention that, but at least it would explain their odd behaviour. Sam and Teal'c still hadn't said anything, but were staring at the foxes rather intently, and Jack for once didn't appear to have any wisecrack to make.
"Gosh, really?" Oliver asked, his tail wiggling with excitement. "How do they talk to you? How do they talk to each other?"
"Err, well we don't talk to them, and they don't talk to us. I think they can still talk to each other though."
"How? That's so weird! I can't imagine not being able to talk."
Grandpa Gordon stepped in front of the younger pup and looked at him. "Perhaps you can imagine it now." He turned his attention to Daniel. "What are you here for?"
"We're peaceful explorers. We came through the stargate in the clearing back there." Daniel gestured back the way they had come. "Through the big stone ring?"
Ollie ran round in front of his Grandpa again. "The stone ring? Really? No-one has ever done that before! Though you told me and Rupert a story about humans doing that once, didn't you Grandpa?" He looked at Grandpa Gordon and back at Daniel again. "Rupert is my older brother. He has a really bushy tail. Not at all like mine." He waggled his own for emphasis.
Jack looked at Grandpa Gordon. "People have come through... the stone ring before then?"
Gordon nodded, or at least appeared to. "Not in my lifetime though. Not for many lifetimes I think. Come, I shall take you to the Prince."
"The Prince of foxes?" Jack asked, confused.
If the last action was a nod, this time Gordon definitely rolled his eyes. "No, the human Prince. Foxes don't have royalty."
Jack looked at Daniel, who shrugged and grinned.
"Oh, my mistake. A human Prince would be great."
Grandpa Gordon Fox led the way down the path and Jack followed. SG1 fell into step behind him and Ollie trotted alongside Sam.
"Hello," he said cheerfully.
"Hello, Ollie. My name is Sam."
"I know. Daniel said so."
"Right." Sam nodded. She felt strangely uncomfortable talking to a fox. This, considering she talked to her plants back home, seemed a bit unnecessary.
Daniel, walking in front of her, smiled as he listened to her stilted attempts at conversation with the young fox. He turned his attention to Jack, in front of him, who still seemed to be having similar problems with the elder fox.
"For peaceful explorers, you seem quite prepared for war." Grandpa Gordon remarked, trotting in front of Jack.
"Well, we might be peaceful, but that doesn't mean everyone else is. We need to be able to defend ourselves."
The fox appeared to think about this.
"You will have no need to defend yourselves here. There hasn't been a war for a very long time."
"This prince... What's he like? Nice chap? Glowing eyes? Anything we should be aware of?"
The fox paused and looked back at Jack. "I have not met a human with glowing eyes before. Is that normal where you come from?"
"Normal? Definitely not. Happens though. Not good."
The fox resumed walking. "Prince Felix is a good and kind man. King Alwick rules at present, though his son becomes more and more involved as the old King fails."
X
Twenty minutes later the group arrived at the edge of the woodland, and stood at the top of small slope overlooking a castle and village.
"This is where the Prince lives", Grandpa Gordon said.
"Can we go down to the castle with them, Grandpa?" Ollie asked, leaving Sam's side for a moment to approach his grandfather.
"No. We shall leave you here. You can't get lost now, I assume?"
Jack shook his head. "Nope. Thanks."
"It was nice to meet you all," Ollie announced after a small nudge from Grandpa Gordon. "You should come round our house to play some time. You can meet my brother, Rupert."
Sam smiled. "That would be nice. But for now, we have to... go do adult things."
Jack looked at his 2IC and grinned. "Yes, we do. Catch you foxes later." He turned to head down the slope. "I don't mean that literally, of course."
The foxes said goodbye and headed back into the woodland. Daniel joined Sam as she followed Jack down the slope.
"We just spent the last half an hour talking to foxes."
"I have to say that was definitely the surrealist moment of my life." Sam grinned. "Our mission reports are going to be great. Everyone is going to think we've been drinking the local drinks again."
Daniel laughed. "It's interesting that the talking foxes and the 'humans' seem to co-exist. Gordon said there hadn't been a war for a long time. I wonder how long."
Teal'c interrupted Daniel's thinking. "There appear to be some riders approaching, Colonel O'Neill."
SG1 paused and looked down towards the castle. Sure enough, a rider on a white horse was trotting up the hill, flanked by another rider on a brown horse. They watched the riders approach.