But why are they in space? There's no reason for them to be in space!
On the contrary, my dear Fatson; there's every reason for them to be in space!
Homestar Runner, best thing
Elves in Space
"You know what, I've just realized something."
"Really? Do tell."
"Yep. It's simple in its brilliance."
Jack was in an exceptionally good mood, and that prompted Daniel to get ready for either a few things. First, Jack was in a good mood for reasons that would put him in a bad mood, such as "being able to get off miserable planet a, so we don't have to waste our time studying the culture of species b." The second was that Jack was only pretending to be in a good mood, and that he had to go along with it until the facade was removed, but not too much that he made himself look like an idiot. The third option, admittedly the rarest of them all, was that Jack was in a good mood for reasons that, once revealed, would put Daniel in a good mood as well.
"I've just figured it out. What being recycled in space truly means."
Okay...so now we have a fourth option.
Actually, until this point, Daniel suspected that the reason for Jack's jubilation would fall into the second or third options. Skaara had just had his goa'uld removed from him, courtesy of Tollan hospitality and Tok'ra technology and in the midst of all this, Tau'ri ingenuity had been demonstrated as well. Or rather nox abilities and Teal'c's farsightedness to hide one of Tollana's ion cannons to thwart Zipanca's plan to subjugate the world, but hey, it was all good. All good bar the Tollans to refuse sharing their technology, but Daniel's realm of expertise lay outside that area. Well outside.
"Daniel? You listening?"
"Um, yeah," the archaeologist murmured, returning to the present. "Something you said...recycled in space?"
"Well, more like elves in space, but you get the idea."
"No Jack...I don't."
The colonel gestured to Lya, currently in the midst of heading through the Tollan stargate to return to Gaia. A gesture that for once, didn't involve an awkward "our hole is bigger joke." Then again, Daniel suspected the only reason for that was because he was in the midst of a bigger one. Bigger...but not necessarily better.
"Wood elves, the lot of them," Jack continued. "The wood elves of the galaxy."
"The what?"
"You know...hide in the woods, remain neutral, avoid direct confrontation...Replace P3X-774 with something out of fantasy and the nox would fit in perfectly."
"I didn't know you read fantasy," the archaeologist piped in, glad that he and his...friend might have finally found some common ground. "I thought-..."
"I don't read it. Teal'c does."
"Oh."
Well, that was understandable. Daniel supposed it would be refreshing for the Jaffa to read about gods and demons in a fictional sense, without being compelled to leave that his goa'uld masters could be both. Maybe it was part of a psych evaluation. But elves in space? Daniel was familiar with the trope, and could see how it applied to the nox on some level, but what about the...
"On the other hand, there's the asgard," Jack continued. "The high elves of space. The ones who stand for truth, justice and apple pie. The guys who send the bad guys running and aren't afraid to show how righteous and badass they are."
"Aren't high elves supposed to be really arrogant?" Daniel queried.
"We've got the Tollans for that. And besides, I'd accept a bit of arrogance for a bit of firepower any day."
There was a degree of frustration in Jack's voice, but the only civilian member of SG-1 didn't think it too severe. Yes, the Tollans had frustrated him again, but despite everything, Daniel knew Jack to be the type of person who would value a life more than the ability to take it-case in point being Skaara's freedom. Seeing his brother in law go free, especially after losing Sha're...it did the archaeologist's heart good to know that at least one of Kasuf's children would be returning to Abydos alive.
"Well, I guess we better get moving out too," Jack began, the stargate having closed, thus allowing SG-1 to return to Earth. "Elves, Tollans...gets a bit much at-..."
"Wait a minute. What about dark elves?"
"What?"
"You know, dark elves," Daniel began, not sure why he was pushing the point, but deciding that anything was better than dwelling on his wife's death. "If the nox are the wood elves, and the asgard are the high elves, then who are the dark elves? You know, the polar opposite of the high elves and all-round bad-guys?"
"Um...the goa'uld?"
"They're parasites Jack in every sense of the word. They hardly mirror the asgard."
"Well, um..." Jack looked awkward, knowing that he'd started a discussion that had turned into an argument, and one he couldn't win at that. "I'll ask Teal'c about it."
"Yeah..." the doctor smirked. "You do that."
It felt good to know that he could have the last word at times.
It felt even better to know that no dark opposites of the asgard existed as well...
...not that he knew of anyway.
A/N
Yep, it's another TV tropes-based oneshot (and in this case, material from the episode Pretense), namely how SG-1 has its own elves in space...by my own reckoning at least. The nox, the asgard...wood elves and high elves of the Milky Way.
Admittedly this would have been better suited for an Atlantis setting as the Vanir would be the "dark elves" of the Stargate franchise effectively, what with splitting off from the asgard proper. However, I didn't feel comfortable writing for it at this point in time. And for all I know, the Vanir could be more like sea elves. Or grey elves, or night elves, or blood elves, or light elves, or...
...head hurts...