On the Run
Disclaimer: As much as I might wish, I do not own Stargate: SG1, Highlander: the Series, or any recognizable characters from either show. However, any characters that are not from either show are mine and I will use and abuse them as I see fit. Everyone else will be returned eventually, for I am only borrowing for a while, but they might end up a bit scuffed.
A/N: This story is set within my Immortal Spacemonkey, set within the fourth season, just after Window of Opportunity. I hope you like it. Please feel free to drop me a review, good or bad. Though if it is bad, let it be constructive criticism and let me know how I can improve and suck less. I like to pretend that I don't have feelings, but I do. Be kind.
Chapter 1
SG-1 had returned from P4X-639, ending their time stuck in a galactic Groundhogs Day. They were currently finishing up the necessary paperwork, documenting their actions on the alien planet. However, it was an unspoken agreement among all members of SG-1, that they would not mention Jack bringing up the death of his son. There was no point in adding something so painful to an official report.
Soon after, Jack and Teal'c were taking off for some necessary time off. While they weren't physically exhausted from the ordeal, they were both mentally drained. They needed the time away from the SGC to recover from their never ending adventure. Jack mentioned something about fishing and Teal'c was planning to go see his son and Master Bray'tac for a while.
Daniel and Sam, not receiving an extended amount of leave, planned on spending their downtime planet-side, catching up on work that was piling up on their desks.
Daniel, happy to have uninterrupted time to slog through the paperwork and translations that needed to be completed, remained in his office, fortified by caffeine and Sam coming by occasionally to make sure he had eaten.
By the third day, he had managed to clear almost all of his desk off. It gave him a tremendous amount of satisfaction. Daniel contemplated his next move. There were several other tasks that he knew needed to be finished, but cleaning his office was a priority. He debated whether to dust his bookshelves or clean out the drawers of his desk. Both areas were in need of cleaning.
While he was finishing putting his signature on the last report, a call on his phone interrupted his internal debate of whether to attack the dust bunnies on the shelves or to empty his desk out of broken pens, crumpled up notes, and discarded power bar wrappers.
"Jackson," he said absently into the phone, holding it close to his ear, twirling a pen in the other hand.
"Right away," he then agreed to whatever the person on the other line was saying. He then tossed the pen onto the empty flat surface, checked to make sure the coffee pot was off, and left the room, headed towards the conference room, as requested.
SG1SG1SG1SG1SG1
"What can I do for you General?" Daniel asked as he breezed into the conference room, noting Major Barrows, Lieutenant Meyer, Sergeant Abbott, and Dr. Lopez sitting around the table with General Hammond.
"Thank you for coming so quickly, Dr. Jackson," Hammond replied. "Please sit down. I need you to go off world with SG-7 to P5X-349."
"Okay. May I ask why?" Daniel asked, taking the folder handed to him by Major Barrows
Hammond nodded towards Dr. Lopez to explain things to Daniel.
"We sent a team to the planet to get a good look around and it seems that the people are ethnically from China. They didn't seem to be hostile, per the report of SG-11, the first contact team. They had someone who spoke a little Mandarin, but not enough to be fluent. I don't speak more than a few words of Cantonese and we don't want to step on any toes by saying the wrong thing," Dr. Lopez, a short, efficient, dark-haired, dark-eyed, and perpetually perky expert in Meso-American pre-Columbian cultures, especially in the Huari, Chimor, and Incan civilizations. She was also a fast learner, who was quickly mastering the Goa'uld language and her Ancient Egyptian was improving (kind of).
"We would like you to serve as a translator and have a look around the place and see what we can see. The village, according the first team has some old trinium mines that we would like to get access to, in exchange for agriculture or medical help," Hammond added. "We didn't see any active signs of Goa'uld occupation. The other teams that would normally handle something like this are already off-world, injured, or like half of SG-1, on leave."
"But it never hurts to be prepared," Daniel muttered, leafing through the briefing folder. "When do we leave?"
"We are scheduled to leave at 0700 tomorrow. The solar cycle on the planet appears to follow roughly ours and is currently experiencing a nice spring day," Lt. Meyers added in a clipped manner, an Academy grad with a degree in meteorology. While he and Daniel had never had a cross moment, he seemed to want to please his commanding officer and appeared to emulate Barrows' attitude towards civilians.
Sergeant James Abbott was pleasant enough towards everyone; rank, branch, and civilian status made no difference to him. He treated everyone nicely, but tended to blend in to his surroundings, avoiding being noticed.
Daniel noticed him though. He also noticed Abbott's tattoo.
They finished the briefing and were dismissed.
Barrows caught Daniel when they were out in the hallway, far away from the ears of the General.
"Jackson, just so you know, I am the commanding officer of this mission, not you," he growled, trying to stare Daniel down. "I know O'Neill is more apt to forgo proper military protocols, but I don't tolerate that kind of thing with my people." Barrows, who had maybe only an inch on Daniel, tried to intimidate him with size and attitude.
Daniel blinked. He had to pause a second and forcefully will himself to not say something flippant. It had been a couple of years since someone in uniform had tried to put him in his place. He hated it when people went on power trips.
"There was never a question in my mind that this is your mission and I am just the tag-along translator," Daniel said, trying to remain calm. "You're in charge. I get that."
"Remember that and this mission will go smoothly," Barrows glared at the mild-mannered academic. With that, he did an about face and marched off somewhere, with Meyers tagging along in his wake.
"Really, once you get to know him, he is quite warm and fuzzy," Abbott muttered to Daniel, causing him to snort in laughter.
"Oh yeah," Dr. Lopez chimed in. "Once he got so warm and fuzzy, he actually called me Dr. Lopez, rather than the usual Lopez he barks at me."
"This is going to be an interesting mission for sure," Daniel said. He quickly bid the others good bye before heading off to get his gear together for the next day.
SG1SG1SG1SG1SG1SG1
The next day saw Daniel standing in the gate room with SG-7, watching the gate spin before locking on to the correct coordinates. He was armed with his sidearm, a Zat, and the normal standard combat knife that was issued to everyone. He also had a secreted knife strapped to his arm, hidden by the long sleeves of his BDU jacket, and one strapped to his leg. There was a part of him that wished he had his sword strapped to his back, but he knew that was impossible and impractical. So he had to settle for his knives.
"SG-7, you have a go. God speed," Hammond called over the speakers, once the Gate had made a connection with the other gate on P5X-349.
"Let's go," Barrows barked at the team and started forward up the ramp to the Gate and into the giant blue puddle.
The others followed, stepping through the event horizon, allowing themselves to be demolecularized and thrown across the galaxy, to be reassembled on a planet that wasn't their own.
Once they were through the Stargate, they were confronted with trees, a blue sky, grassy fields, and giant black and white caterpillars, roughly the size of a school bus, which lounged around, happily munching on the grass.
"The briefing didn't say anything about giant caterpillars," Abbott remarked as they all stood around and stared at the things for a minute.
"We didn't see them on the MALP and SG-11 didn't mention it either," Lopez said, looking on in amazement.
"Ni hao, luke," a young voice said off to the side.
The members of SG-7 and Daniel jumped a little, taken by surprise.
"Ni hao! Ni hao ma? Wo jiao Jackson Daniel. Nin gui xing?"
Wo jiao Sun Jai," the boy, no more than ten years old, replied.
He and Daniel continued for a minute or more before Daniel was able to ask where the village elders were that SG-11 had spoken to earlier as the first contact unit. Daniel was told that he had been assigned to watch for the visitors while the elders had to take care of business in their town and he was to bring the travelers to the village post-haste.
Daniel translated the boy's message to Bowerman, who then ordered everyone to look sharp and head out.
They made it to the village in about ten minutes. They saw more of the giant caterpillars along the way and the boy explained to Daniel that the people domesticated the caterpillars for their silk and were considered sacred. Using their silk was one thing, killing them was forbidden.
Daniel told the others that the caterpillars were not to be harmed. Barrows, surprisingly, accepted Daniel's words; Daniel, Abbott, and Lopez both looked at Barrows in surprise.
"What?" he barked. "I'm not going to be the one to kill a bunch of caterpillars. That's gross. Can you imagine the mess it would make?"
Lopez managed to suppress a snort and just mouthed the words "warm and fuzzy" to Daniel.
The group arrived at the village and were immediately greeted by three elderly men, presumably the village elders. All of them wore simple clothes, but the material was made of out silk. In fact, everyone in the village they could see were wearing clothes made out of silk. Daniel surmised that the caterpillars were probably giant silkworms, or very closely related to the ones back on earth.
The village itself was small, full of wooden homes with thatched roofs. There was a communal well in the middle of the town "square." Fields of grain were seen beyond the homes. Daniel couldn't see any statues denoting any allegiance to a particular god or goddess (or Goa'uld).
Barrows, Meyers, and Daniel sat down with the elders, had some tea, and discussed the possibility of Earth gaining access to the trinium mines that was adjacent to the village. Lopez, with Abbott, were allowed to have a look-see around the village, meeting with the people, trying to get an idea about life in the village.
Negotiations took their time and the fact that the village needed to get on with their daily lives. Animals still needed to be cared for, fields needed to be tended, clothes needed to be washed, dinner needed to be cooked. Life did not grind to a stop just because strangers showed up.
The night was a celebration for the villagers, welcoming the strangers from Earth. The food, while nothing like the stuff from back home, did seem to derive from traditional Chinese cooking. The people were nice. After the festivities, the people gave the members of SG-7 a place to sleep. They still kept watch, but it was nice to sleep for once on a bed (slightly scratchy and lumpy) and not the hard ground in a tent.
Daniel did notice how at the four corners of the village stood sentinels, looking out for something or someone, all armed with Jis and Nus. All the elders would say, when questioned, is they were watching out for raiders and thieves, potential trouble makers. Sun Jai reassured Daniel that it had been a long time since they had someone make trouble for the village, but they always took precautions.
A/N: So what do you think? Crap or not? Feel free to hit the shiny review button and let me know. Just please, if you don't like it or feel it should be improved somehow, let your criticisms be constructive and not flames.
I hope this is a correct translation (please forgive me if it isn't right): Ni hao, luke = hello, travelers; Ni hao ma = how are you; Nin gui xing = may I ask your name; Woa jaio = I am…
The Ji is a two-handed pole weapon used as a military weapon in China as early as the Shang dynasty (1600 BC – 1046 BC). It comprises a long handle with a curved blade attached to the top and a sharp metal tip. The Ji is a very diverse and useful instrument, it can be used to slash with the side blade or stab with the tip.
A Nu is a semi-automatic crossbow.