Title: The First Team
Authors: ReganX and SionnachOghma
Rating: PG-13/T
Summary: 'Stargate' - the movie as it could have been.
Spoilers: Mostly for the movie.
Authors' Note: This story was born after a discussion on what the movie would have been like if it had included Sam and Richard Dean Anderson's Jack.
Disclaimer: We do not own 'Stargate: SG-1', 'Stargate: Atlantis' or any of the characters associated with either show. If we did, Seasons Nine and Ten would be… different.
Prologue
"When is the archaeological community going to accept the fact that the pharaohs of the Fourth Dynasty did not build the Great Pyramid? Look, inside the pyramid, the most incredible structure ever erected, there are no writings whatsoever."
"Dr Jackson, you've left out the fact that Colonel Vyse discovered quarrymen's inscriptions of Khufu's name written within the Pyramid." One of the men in the audience, whom Catherine recognized as a Professor Thomas, interrupted, clearly less than impressed by Jackson's lecture. Much less.
"His discovery was a fraud." Daniel responded immediately, turning to the blackboard behind him and picking up a piece of chalk to sketch a symbol.
"Well, I hope you can prove that." Thomas' tone made it clear that he did not think that this was going to happen.
"Who do you think built the pyramids?" Another voice demanded.
"I don't have any idea who built them." His response was honest. "I mean that…"
"Men from Atlantis? Or Martians, perhaps?" The jest was met with a ripple of laughter and several people rose to leave, some irritated by this waste of their time, others somewhat amused by what they had heard but tiring of the joke.
"The point is not who built them, it is when they were built." Daniel tried to regain the attention of the remaining members of his audience, to persuade them of his arguments, but he knew deep down that he was fighting a losing battle. I mean, we all know that new geological evidence dates the Sphinx back to a much earlier period. Knowing this, I think we have to begin to re-evaluate everything we've come to accept about… I mean, I've been able to show a fully developed writing system appeared in the first two dynasties." He stepped down from the dais to speak to one of the only people who lingered a moment. "You know which… almost as if it was based on an earlier prototype."
Catherine slipped out of the hall quietly, scarcely hearing Daniel's disappointed query.
"Is there a lunch or something that everybody…"
"That's the guy you want?" Her companion's tone was disbelieving. "You've gotta be kidding me!"
"I've read some of Dr Jackson's work, Colonel." Catherine reproved him mildly. "It is impressive."
"The people running away from his lecture don't seem to share your opinion, Doc. Look, I've already got one geek to deal with on this mission. Why does West want to stick me with another?"
"It was not General West's idea. I thought that the presence of somebody with knowledge of the Ancient Egyptian language and society would be helpful for your mission."
Outside, the subject of their conversation sneezed loudly.
"Yeah," Jack said dryly. "I'm sure that he'll be a big help. Huge."
Ignoring him, Catherine spoke quietly with her chauffeur, who climbed out of the car, umbrella in hand, to approach the soaking wet academic.
"We're going somewhere?" Daniel asked as he was ushered into towards the car.
"You're going to be fine. We'll take care of these." The suitcases he carried were taken from him and he was gently pushed into the vehicle, the door closed firmly behind him.
Catherine looked up from the thin file she had been rifling through. "Dr Jackson?" She passed him a black and white photograph. "Those your parents?"
"Foster parents." He corrected quietly, looking across at Jack, who grunted by way of greeting. "What is this all about?"
"A job."
"What kind of a job?"
"An expedition, and perhaps some translation. Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs. Interested?"
"No, thanks. I'm gonna go now." He reached for the door handle, but her next question stopped him short.
"Go where? You've just been evicted from your apartment. Your grants have run out. Everything you own is in those two bags."
"You could always throw away half your stuff and sleep in the suitcase." Jack suggested sarcastically.
"You want to see proof that your theories are right?" Catherine asked quietly. "This is your chance." She handed him an envelope.
"What's this?""Travel plans. In case you change your mind."
Jack leaned forward, slapping a quarter into his hand. "Give us a call when you do."
Daniel climbed out of the car, bending down to pick up his bags. The chauffeur hadn't even climbed back into the car when a hand tapped on the rear window.
"Wait!"
When Dr Langford had told him that he was needed for an expedition and a translation job, explaining on the journey that he would be officially under the employ of the Air Force, Daniel had had no idea what he should expect.
The facility was underground and heavily guarded. Colonel O'Neill led the way through a maze of corridors, coming to a stop outside a set of double doors and swiping his card through the scanner to gain access.
A set of stone slabs were arranged in a circle Daniel estimated to be almost twenty feet wide. A few pieces were slightly cracked but almost all of the symbols were intact. The writing on the inner circles had been copied onto a blackboard and somebody had begun to translate.
By the looks of things, they were not doing well.
"The translation of the inner track is wrong." He announced immediately, moving to the blackboard and picking up a piece of chalk. "Must have used Budge. I don't know why they keep reprinting his books."
"Jackson!"
Daniel barely heard Colonel O'Neill snap his name. Murmuring quietly to himself as he worked, he crossed out most of the words of the translation, substituting his own. After a minute or two he stepped back, surveying his work. "This should be 'a million years into the sky is Ra, Sun God, sealed and buried for all time.'" He read, crossing out the last phrase. "It's not 'door to heaven', it's 'stargate'." He glanced up. "So why is the military so interested in five thousand year old tablets."
"My report said ten thousand." O'Neill said.
"Really?" Daniel asked, his attention divided between this proof that a writing system had existed in Egypt long before his colleagues had believed and the symbols on the outer track and at the centre of the stone. The first translation had been straight forward enough but the second set of markings were another story. "Those aren't hieroglyphics." That much he was sure of. "It might be some form of hieratic or cuneiform…"
"It's not writing at all." A female voice spoke up behind him. "They're star constellations." The new arrival extended her hand to shake his. "You must be Dr Rothman. I'm Captain Samantha Carter."
"Rothman?" Daniel repeated.
"Wrong geek, Carter." O'Neill told her, smirking slightly when she blushed, realizing her faux pas.
"Samantha, this is Dr Daniel Jackson." Catherine took over the introductions.
"Rothman already had a job. So did Rayner and…"
"Thank you, Colonel." Catherine cut him off firmly. "Samantha was the one who spotted that the symbols were for constellations." She explained to Daniel before returning her attention to Sam. "And Daniel's come up with a new name for the project – Stargate."
"Beats the 'Wormhole Project' or the 'Portal Project'." Jack remarked.
Daniel's eyes became impossibly wide. "Wormhole? What's going on around here?"
Catherine looked to both Jack and Sam, waiting for them to nod before speaking to Daniel. "Dr Jackson, we have a lot to fill you in on."
TBC.
