Title: Bonus
Author: PunkyRabbit
Category: Crossover
Pairing: None
Rating: Anyone
Status: Complete
Season/Spoilers: Set during "Children of the Gods" on Stargate, and major spoilers for that episode and hints at "Enemy Within" and vague mentions of events in other seasons, including, but not limited to anything dealing with Ba'al, or Shifu. Any season for Quantum Leap. No detailed knowledge of Quantum Leap required, though a familarity with the characters would be helpfu.
Synopsis: Sam Beckett leaps into the body of Daniel Jackson during the events of "Children of the Gods". What will Sam change?
Notes: This is my very first fanfic. Please let me know what you think. Please be gentle. Special thanks to my beta, Brynn.
Words inside are a brief introduction to Quantum Leap for those not familiar with that series, and are taken directly from the introduction to the show. Words inside are thoughts. Much of the dialog of the SG1 characters is taken from "Children of the Gods."
Disclaimer: I own neither the characters of Quantum Leap, nor StarGate...nor much of anything else for that matter, except a geriatric dog and a one-legged lovebird.
Warnings: None
Bonus
by punkyrabbit
Theorizing that one could time travel within his own lifetime, Dr. Sam Beckett led an elite group of scientists into the desert to develop a top secret project, known as Quantum Leap. Pressured to prove his theories or lose funding, Dr. Beckett prematurely stepped into the projects accelerator and vanished.
He awoke to find himself in the past, suffering from partial amnesia, and facing a mirror image that was not his own. Fortunately, contact with his own time was maintained through brainwave transmission with Al, the project observer, who appeared in the form of a hologram that only Dr. Beckett could see or hear.
Trapped in the past, Dr. Beckett finds himself leaping from life to life putting things right that once went wrong and hoping each time that his next leap will be the leap home.
Dr. Sam Beckett leapt into yet another body, to find himself in a locker room with a middle-aged, silver-haired man standing in front of him, saying, "Daniel? Daniel?" After smacking Sam on the shoulder, the man continued, "Hey, Danny Boy!"
Sam snapped to attention, "Huh?"
The older man looked somewhat concerned, "Are you ok?"
Sam scanned the other man's uniform, noticed a colonel's insignia, and replied, "Yes sir."
The other man's face bore a look of confusion, "Sir? Are you sure you're ok?"
"Pretty sure."
"Well, in that case, let's move out." With that, he turned and left.
Move out? Where? Huh? "Wait up!" As he ran to catch up with O'Neill, as it said on his uniform, he realized that this was the part of the leap that he hated: not knowing who he was, how he was supposed to react; not knowing where Al was; to him, it was all starting to get a little old. "Where are we going?"
"I don't really know the coordinates to the planet either."
Shocked, Sam mouthed "planet?" Fortunately, he was behind the colonel, so avoided having to explain the fact that he didn't know that already...if, indeed, he should know that already. Oh boy. The beginning of each leap was so confusing.
After they had entered a room, filled with computers, with a window facing a large room which held a big stone ring, Sam saw another military man. He looked closely and recognized a general's uniform. As his eyes scanned this bald- headed man, he noticed the name "Hammond" on the man's shirt.
General Hammond announced, "SG teams 1 and 2. If you're not back in twenty-four hours your GDOs will be locked out and the Iris will be permanently sealed.
You know, leaps are confusing enough without a bunch of jargon that I don't understand...of course, with my Swiss cheese memory, I probably wouldn't understand the jargon I'm supposed to understand...Where's Al?
Interrupting Sam's ruminations, a man in his early thirties, sitting at a large desk, constantly tapping on the keyboard in front of him, started dialing the gate. Al chose that moment to show up, which, would have been a more welcomed sight to Sam, had the hologram not been standing in the middle of the keyboard that so interested the man constantly saying something about chevrons. Because Al was a hologram, that only Sam could see, he motioned to Sam to get his attention, which looked like he was trying to decapitate the poor "chevron guy".
As Jack was leading SG1 and 2 down the stairs to the gate room, Sam lagged behind and whispered, "Al, what is an Iris, and a GDO? What is that huge stone circle, and WHY is that guy continually muttering about chevrons?...Actually, just tell me where I am and what I'm here to do. But first, what took you so long?"
"Since you're not that far into the past, it was hard for me to get the information to be able to find you and know what you're here to do. This is a top-secret military operation, and it's still classified, in our time, but since I'm an Admiral in the Navy, I was able to get the intel... eventually." Al said matter-of-factly. "Of course, I think I just sold my soul to the top brass. They said something about ties and dress uniforms being prominent in my immediate future." Al shifted uncomfortably, and pulled at the collar of his bright green shirt, seeming to have forgotten all about Sam's question.
"Al!" Sam hissed as he entered the gate room.
"Oh, yeah." Al banged the side of a multi-colored hand held device and it let out a squawk. "Your name is Dr. Daniel Jackson, an archaeologist, and linguist. You're in a top-secret, underground facility under Cheyenne Mountain. That", gesturing toward the spinning ring of symbols, "is the Stargate, which can transport you to any other Stargate." Al tapped the colorful box in his hand and looked up with surprise before continuing "which apparently are on other planets! An Iris is a titanium defense shield protecting Earth from another ...Go...owd attack. Don't ask me what a Go...owd is." After another pause and a confused look at his hand held device, he continued, "Oh wait, Ziggy says it's pronounced Go-a-uld and they are snake-like creatures that take over a human body, which then, the host has no control over."
"Kind of like me then, huh?" Sam muttered.
"Yeah, kind of like...well NO, nothing like you. I mean, you give the bodies back, and you're trying to help, and ...well, Ziggy says these things are just evil!"
"A COMPUTER thinks these things are evil?"
"Okay, Ziggy didn't use the word evil, but they are Sam...from what I've read, having one of these things take over is a fate worse than death...Anyway, you are here to save someone named Skaara...who, of course, is not from this planet...You know, Sam, I think this is going to be a REALLY weird leap."
"Al, you were saying? Skaara?"
"Oh yeah. He, along with your wife, ...mmm Jackson's wife, Shauri, has been taken by this new enemy.
Straightening up in surprise, and totally forgetting to whisper, Sam exclaimed, "Skaara and Shauri are taken as hosts to these evil snake things?"
Jack attempted to comfort Daniel, "We can only hope we get to them before that happens."
Al firmly states, "Yes, they will both be taken. You have to realize, though, you must not save Shauri. If you do, then, Daniel goes back to Abydos and doesn't join SG-1. If he doesn't join SG-1, then many mysteries will not be solved and Earth will eventually be taken over by these awful things." Seeing how deeply this concept, of NOT being able to save someone, was hurting Sam, Al continued, "You can't save Shauri, Sam. As it is, she has a child while possessed by this Goa'uld creature, whose father is possessed by another one of these creatures...ooh yuck...and this boy becomes very important later."
"Al, I can NOT let an innocent woman be taken host by one of these things knowing that another one will force her to be pregnant. I don't care HOW important the child is." Sam was very careful to move slightly away from the Colonel, and keep his voice low this time.
"Sam, you can't save her. But, you have to save Skaara. If you save him, he starts a rebel base on his home planet, Abydos, originally against Apophis, the Goa'uld who has his sister, and once Apophis is dead Skaara kills a Goa'uld named Baal, along with many other minor Goa'ulds. If, he does that, then Baal can't torture Jack O' Neill," gesturing to the silver-haired guy standing next to him, "and, obviously, if he's killed, Baal can't come to Earth and wreak havoc, which is exactly what happens in the original history. You have to stop this, Sam. It all hinges on Skaara."
Jack was standing at the base of the ramp, talking to the leader of the other SG team. "You ready to ship out Kowalski?"
The young major, a man in his late thirties or early forties, with short brown hair, replied, "You bet. Let's go show the galaxy who's boss."
Just then, the large stone ring sprang to life with a great flash of light. "WOW!" Sam exclaimed.
Jack informed him, "Yeah. It never gets old. Does it?"
Sam chuckled with relief, "Yeah"
"Sam, you have to be careful about your reactions to this type of thing. You could arouse suspicion, and I'm thinking if these people know there are ... things... out there that possess bodies, you really do NOT want these people to have ANY reason to think you're not Dr. Daniel Jackson, mild mannered archeologist."
As they stepped through the stargate, Sam could feel how cold it was. Once on the other side, he found himself on another planet... without Al. "Kowalski, you and Casey set up here," Jack said pointing, as he positioned the MALP in that spot. "Now if we're not back in twenty four hours, you get yourselves back through the gate before you get locked out also."
"Oh, come on Jack. You really expect me to leave you on this planet? No way. We'll go through with you or not at all." Kowalski retorted.
Seeing that arguing wouldn't help, Jack turned and started off to investigate, "Carter, Daniel, this way looks as good as any". Sam looked around, hoping Al would show up. What if he can't follow me here? What on Earth...well, what on whatever planet this IS, am I supposed to do, if Al can't help?
Sam needn't have worried, however, as the team was hiking, Al showed up, same as always, except he looked a little surprised. So, Al was worried he couldn't follow me here, too. Somehow, that didn't make him feel much better.
When the team noticed a group of people dressed in green, holding odd looking sticks, the colonel motioned for the group to get down. Not exactly knowing why, figuring he was feeling an impulse from the original Daniel, Sam got up, went down the hill and attempted to tell the people that they could trust them. When they obviously had no clue what he was saying, Sam found himself saying the word, "Chapai'ai". With that, the odd looking men got to their knees immediately, while repeating the word. Sam glanced at Al, silently asking why he knew that.
"Yeah, about that...Daniel Jackson seems to have a good many of your memories too, Sam. Ziggy can't explain it. It's all I can do to keep her focused on this leap. She thinks this a fascinating development."
Sam acknowledged Al with a small tip of his head, and helped the man in front of him stand up. The man asked Sam something in a different language. Not knowing where he had heard it, Sam recognized the last word, "asla". He assumed that the only reason he recognized it at all was because, as Al was saying at that moment, Daniel knew twenty three different languages. Sam repeated this word, trying to grasp what it meant, "Asla...Choose." Then, turning to Colonel O'Neill, who had been close behind, Sam continued, "They want to know if we are here to choose."
Jack just looked at him and shrugged, as if for him to decide what to say.
Turning back to the man in the hooded cloak, Sam answered, "Sure. We can choose." Then, the group found themselves being led by the men in green. Once they had entered a large room where there were many people eating, the man in green told the festive people, in their language, that these people were there to choose. As soon as the group had sat down, a man in the room, holding a large instrument of some sort, blew into it and made a loud noise. When Sam saw that everyone else in the room bowed, he felt that they probably should as well. After he had bowed, and realized that the other two in the group hadn't, he told them that he felt that they should.
Then, several men, Jaffa, as Al called them, entered the room followed by a woman, dressed in fancy clothing. "That's Shauri, Daniel's wife. She's already been taken as a Goa'uld host."
When Sam felt some deep emotion for her..That is my wife... he stood up with a start and Al stopped him. "You are feeling Daniel's emotions for Shauri. You have to stay in control. You can't allow Daniel's remaining feelings to take over. I understand why you would want to try to save her", Al said comfortingly, "But you can't. I know you're the type of person who doesn't want to deny anyone the chance to a better life, if you can help it, but you can't save her, Sam. If you do, then you condemn many other people to horrible fates. Let her go."
As Sam stood there hesitating, the Goa'uld took that movement as a threatening move and Shauri raised her arm and, with a flash of light coming from the device on her arm, sent Sam crashing up against the wall.
The new comers were then taken to a big stone room, with many other prisoners in it. Once he came to, Sam and the rest of the group searched the whole room for Skaara and finally found him. He had obviously been crying about his sister. Sam sat down beside him and put his arm around him to comfort him. After Sam had calmed him down and convinced him to come over to the rest of the group with him, a Jaffa entered the room and went over to the group. The Jaffa grabbed Jack's arm and inquired, "What is this?"
Jack replied, "It's a watch"
The Jaffa seemed puzzled, "This is not Goa'uld technology. Where are you from?"
Jack, attempting to answer his question as truthfully as possible, replied, "Earth. Chigago if you want to be specific."
"Your words mean nothing" The Jaffa said abruptly.
Trying to help Jack out, Sam jumped in and wrote in the sand a symbol he recognized to be Earth's symbol. He thought to himself that Al must have been right. Some of Daniel's thoughts had come through. Daniel knew that symbol, not him. He looked up at the Jaffa and said, "That's where we're from."
The Jaffa nodded in acknowledgment and smeared the drawing with his foot so that the other people in the room did not see.
Al said to Sam, "You have to hide Skaara somewhere, if you are going to save him. If you don't do something, the Goa'uld choose him in this very room, in less than an hour."
"Well, where do we put him?" Sam inquired.
"I don't know. Figure something out."
Hearing what he said, Jack inquired, "Put Who?"
"See? That's why I tell you to be careful. I tell you. But do you listen? No. Of course not. Why do I even bother." Al said, wandering around, throwing his hands in the air, until Sam couldn't hear what he was saying anymore.
Trying not to blow his cover, Sam, almost crying, another Daniel emotion, said, "I need to hide Skaara, Jack. I've already lost Shauri. I can't face Kasuf and tell him that I couldn't save either of his children; that they are both lost. I can't do that to him, Jack." Sam knew from Daniel's memories that Kasuf was Shauri's and Skaara's father.
"Ok, Daniel, I'll help you hide him. Ok?" Jack said, comfortingly, in reply. Then, after telling Carter to stay there and try to find a way to get out, he and Sam looked around and finally found a place that might work. They took Skaara by the arm and led him to a small crevice around a turn in the wall, and, after Jack had left the two of them alone, knowing how close they were, Sam told him to stay there until he came back for him.
"No!" Skaara retorted angrily. "She's my sister. I have to do something for her; it's what she would want. She wouldn't want to live with that...thing...in control."
Sam, desperately trying to find a way to keep him there and comfort him at the same time, replied. "If you go out there you'll become a Goa'uld too. I know that. Is that what Shauri would want? Trust me."
Then, sobbing, Skaara leaned on Sam's shoulder. After Sam had comforted him, he left Skaara there and went back to the group.
A small group of people entered the room with Shauri and Apophis. The prisoners heard the Jaffa say something in a different language, and some knelt. But, when the remainder of the prisoners didn't kneel when the Jaffa said, in English, "Kneel before your Gods", many men ran through the crowd of people knocking them to their knees. Then the Goa'uld with Shauri, whom Sam found out was Apophis, spoke and told the small group of people to chose. The people in the room were terrified. The men went to the people that they wanted to choose, as that person, being lifted off of the ground by hefty looking men, squirmed and squeeled and tried to get loose. As one man passed, Sam felt an impulse from Daniel to jump him, attack him, do anything necessary to save his wife. Sam knew that wouldn't help, so he let the man pass. Since that man's attention was not drawn to their group, like it originally had been, the man walked on and chose someone else. Sam whispered to Al, "Al, that person would have been safe, had Skaara been chosen, right?" When Al, after having smacked his hand held device, nodded sadly, Sam continued, "I ruined his life, Al. I thought I was supposed to save people's lives, not make them worse."
"You are supposed to save people, Sam. Some people, not all of them. It's how it has to be in order for Skaara to start that rebel base, Sam. I know you don't like that fact at all, but you can't help everyone. At least this way, you've helped the most people possible." Al said, putting a hand on Sam to comfort him.
Then Sam saw Shauri again. He lunged toward her. As upset as he was over not being able to help everyone, Sam wasn't able to fight Daniel's impulses this time. Jack, who was standing right beside him, grabbed him as he went to go past, and said, "Let her go Daniel."
Al stood in front of him. "Sam, don't. You can't. Sam, you have to stay in control." Gesturing toward the gray haired man restraining Sam, Al continued, "Like he said, Sam, you have to let her go."
"I can't", he replied aloud.
Then Jack turned him around and held him tight, trying the best way he knew how, to help his friend. "Yes you can, Danny. You have to...for now."
Then, after the small group of people had chosen the people they wanted as new hosts, the Jaffa were told to kill the rest. As the Jaffa, who had spoken to the people from Earth, approached the advancing line of Jaffa, whose staff weapons were held at the ready, Jack shouted, "I can save these people." When the man with the tattooed forehead turned and pointed his staff weapon at him, he continued, "Help me! Help me."
With that, the Jaffa looked determined and replied, "Many have said that." Then, as he turned and shot a fellow Jaffa, continued, "But you are the first I believed could do it." He proceeded to throw the staff weapon to Jack and he picked up another staff weapon and helped Jack kill off the last few Jaffa in that room, while Sam went to go get Skaara.
As Sam approached Skaara, the younger man cried out, "You didn't save her."
Sam, sitting down in front of the other man, replied in a soft tone, "No. I couldn't. I'm sorry." Then, Skaara heaved his fist toward Sam. As if he had planned for it, Sam threw his hand up and caught Skaara's fist, before he punched him, and pulled him close and gave him a tight hug. For the next few minutes, the two men sat crying together, with each man's presence comforting the other. After Sam was confident that Skaara was better, he stood up and helped the Abydonian to his feet.
After the Jaffa were all dead, Jack turned and, with the staff weapon, shot a hole in the wall of the room. He then yelled for everyone to get out through the hole he had made. After he had helped the last of the prisoners out, he shouted to the Jaffa, who was looking around at the dead Jaffa, looking lonely, "Come on. Let's go."
The Jaffa replied, "I have no place to go."
Jack said, "For this, you can stay at my place. Come on. What's your name?"
The Jaffa replied, "Teal'c"
As they walked with the rest of the group of people, Teal'c explained that he was a Jaffa and that he carried an infant Goa'uld within him. He turned and separated the chain mail fabric and the larval Goa'uld within him showed it's slimy, snake-like head, as Captain Carter held back the crowd of freed prisoners. Then, the group stayed further behind, for they were terrified. All but the people of Earth knew of the Goa'uld but most had never seen one, not even an infant. So, this encounter finally hit home, to many of them, just what fate they had narrowly escaped.
As they continued on, they spotted several Jaffa walking through the woods. They quickened the pace as they neared the Stargate. Once they had reached the gate, Sam dug in his pocket for the book he knew, from Daniel's thoughts, had Earth's gate address in it. Once he had found the book he struggled to find the right place when, all of the sudden, Daniel's mind power came in handy. With Daniel's mind helping him decipher the words, he found the address for Earth, and began dialing. With the Stargate on, Kowalski, Casey and a few other men fought off the Jaffa, as best they could. Sam started getting the people through the Stargate.
Casey got hit by a staff weapon blast and collapsed near a fallen Jaffa. Kowalski went over to him. With the last of the freed prisoners through, Sam looked around to see if there were any other people that needed to go through the gate and spotted Major Kowalski by Casey's side, trying to help him through the gate. Sam, grabbed Casey and Kowalski, pushing them both through the gate, at the same time as the infant Goa'uld fromof the fallen Jaffa's symbyote pouch flew into the air, right where Kowalski had just stood.
When he stepped through the event horizon into the gate room, from which he had departed just twenty-four hours earlier, Sam saw it was crowded with people. He looked around, taking everything in. He witnessed many happy prisoners, all hugging each other, happy that they all made it out alive. He saw a confused general being briefed by Captain Carter, who was explaining the whole adventure to him. Most of the refugees got out without any injuries, but even the ones that were injured were going to be fine. Then, as he continued to scan the room he saw Skaara and Jack talking to each other.
As he was smiling to himself, feeling great to have saved another life, Al appeared and said gleefully, "Hey Sam!" When Sam turned his head, he continued, "You got a bonus!" Sam looked at him with confusion. Al, trying to explain, gestured to Major Kowalski, who was standing next to Sam, "You saved him! Originally, he was taken over by the infant Goa'uld, trying to save that kid on his team, Casey. Then, he died the day he was going to lead a team through the Stargate, for the first time. But, you saved him, Sam! Now he goes on to save thousands of others on a variety of planets."
As Sam beamed, he looked over and overheard Jack's conversation with Skaara, "Hey Skaara, you can join my team and we will find Shauri. We'll save her! What do you say, Skaara?" Sam grew rigid, knowing that Skaara had to go back to Abydos and start that rebel base, but afraid that he might accept the colonel's offer.
"Thanks for the offer, O'Neill.", the younger man said as Sam sunk within himself. "But I need to return to Abydos and let them know what is going on out there." Sam was filled with hope, listening to see if he would say more. "I will lead an army against Apophis, for he has my sister!" With that Skaara's voice started shaking. "We will help you win this new battle, O'Neill. We will save my sister. But my people need to know and I'm sure many will want to fight along side you, O'Neill." Jack reached forward and held Skaara close.
Sam walked over to the two men. "Daniel", Skaara said reaching out to hug him. Sam pulled him close.
While he was hugging the Abydonian, Al told him, "You did it, Sam. Get ready to leap." With that, Sam began to glow, and was gone.