An Unfortunate Start
John Sheppard sat alone as he watched yet another connection be made through the stargate to another world. They were still recovering from their arrival on Atlantis, and it was looking less and less likely with every mission that they would be able to find a world that could help them defeat the Wraith.
The gate flared to life with its typical burst of energy, the stargate shield up and running. They were readying a small probe to confirm the habitability of the planet, but so far all signs pointed to another upcoming mission.
It was without warning then that a number of events occurred in quick succession. The first was a blinding flash of light from the stargate, which blinded every person in the room. Nearly simultaneously, the stargate shield failed, bursting in an air blast that blew out every re-enforced pane of glass in behind the gate, and burst the eardrums of every person in the gate room.
More fortuitously, this was immediately followed by the wormhole collapsing and the stargate returning to an innocuous state. Sadly no one in the room was in any state to appreciate their luck, as those exposed directly to the gate were badly burned, and even those hidden behind computer consoles were knocked unconscious and thus unable to hear the alarms, nor respond to the emergency crew who entered the room shortly thereafter.
Jon Snow sat alone as he looked out over the far north from his perch on the wall. His mind was in truth with his brother in the south, who was even now risking his life to save his family. And here he was, watching a barren land where little had occurred for thousands of years, stuck by his own doing on the edge of nowhere.
Jon was lucky that he looked down then, for in that moment even the reflection off of the ice was sufficient to strike Jon blind. He felt an incredible heat all over his body, as if he had been thrown into a fire, though surprisingly he felt little actual pain. He did however here the cries of the two other men on the wall nearby as he scrambled along the ground towards the lift. He tried crying out to his fellow brothers, but neither responded after their initial cries. It took him nearly a minute, but he eventually found the lift, and started to make his way down the wall, hoping to tell the Lord Commander of what had happened. Although he descended with all speed, he was still a few floors above the ground when he felt his ears pop, and the wall shake with thunder. He had little chance to respond before the ground fell out from under his feet, and he and the lift plunged down to the ground below.
He was in no state to appreciate his fortune when the was dug out from the broken lift by the builders of the Night's Watch, nor the care he was given by Maester Aemon, who noted with surprise that despite his hair having reduced to ashes, his skin remained bright red, but unburnt.