Prompt #100 – Dust
Summary: Daniel finds his purpose in their ongoing struggle
Pairings: Sam/Daniel
Rating: T
Season: Season 10/Future
Category: Established Relationship
Genres: A/U, Angst, Drama, Relationship, Tragedy
A/U: inspired by Last Man (SGA)
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Daniel came through the Stargate a little quicker than he had expected. There wasn't time to contemplate this as he half-skidded and half-stumbled to a stop on the ramp. Only then did he realise where he was. He stared around himself in wide-eyed confusion on barely recognising the gateroom of Stargate Command. And only then did he realise just how hot the environment was.
Loosening his collar, he readjusted his P-90 as he walked down the ramp cautiously into the empty gateroom. He looked up to see the control room empty too, and he called out,
"Hello?" He looked around the gateroom as though one more look would make things normal again. He said, "Anyone?"
Pressing his earpiece, he called into his radio, "Hello?"
Receiving nothing but static, he turned around again. Had some Goa'uld, or even the Ori taken the trouble to rather inaccurately recreate the SGC as a means to ensnare him? During this train of thought, he peered curiously at the crystal panels on the walls, which appeared to be only for decorative purposes.
Shaking his head, he left the gateroom, intending to make his way to the control room so he could attempt to dial back to the planet where his team was. He hadn't remembered touching a quantum mirror – perhaps this was just some peculiarity of wormhole physics that Sam could explain to him.
Speaking of Sam, he was about to ascend the stairs to the control room, when he heard a voice. Still confused, and relieved, he spun around on hearing Sam's voice. However, he stopped in his tracks on seeing a woman that he had only barely imagined from time to time. Before him stood an elderly careworn woman with long white hair. He backed away from her in shock, shaking his head in denial. He swallowed and looked at her defensively. He said,
"No... no... you're not real."
His shock wasn't abated when she smiled that smile that his Sam seemed to smile only for him. She said, "Daniel, don't worry. It's okay. Everything's okay." She spoke a little quicker to distract him from his shock. "This is gonna sound crazy... but do you remember 1969?"
He nodded, now numb as he tried to process her existence. She continued with that same smile, "A wormhole intersected a solar flare, and we ended up thirty years in the past. This time..." She sighed softly. "... the wormhole accidentally intersected a solar flare – but this one had very unusual characteristics." She paused before she could dive into a complex explanation. She said, "You're now forty thousand years in the future – your future."
He stared at her in shock, and then numbly dropped onto the bottom step of the staircase behind him.
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In the control room, Daniel tried albeit in vain to use the computer to dial the 'gate. Older-Sam stood behind him, waiting for him to give up. The tolerant expression on her face would have shown an outside observer that she knew that she could be waiting there a long time.
Finally, when the dialling computer wouldn't co-operate with him, he slammed the keyboard in an uncharacteristic display of frustration. Still, he refused to face her. Finally older-Sam moved to his side, peering at him. She said with a knowing smile,
"You're going to have to face me someday, Daniel... and I'd like it to be before you need a cane."
Staring down at the computer, he asked, "What happened?" He slowly looked at her. "Where am I?"
She smiled at him again, and said, "Good, you're finally willing to listen. I forgot just how stubborn you can be." She nodded at a nearby chair. "Sit down." When he hesitated, she said, "You're gonna need to, believe me."
He reluctantly pulled out a chair and sat down, looking up at her expectantly, his arms folded across his chest. She crouched in front of him, shying from his touch when he began to accept who she was.
She said, "Because of the malfunction that we've already discussed, it's now the year 42,007."
Daniel stared at her as he realised that she was serious. He then glanced down into the darkened gateroom, and asked, "What happened here?" The heat getting to him again, he tugged at his collar again. "Is there a heating malfunction?"
She shrugged. "You could say that. Sol is now a red giant... the Earth is barren. The last of humanity left Earth long ago."
He shook his head, and said, "If what you say is true – about Earth – then how am I even alive?"
"I've created an oxygen field for you."
Daniel tried to touch her but stared in horrified fascination as his hand passed straight through her. She continued, "I'm not who you think I am. I'm a hologram of Doctor Samantha Jackson, created in 2027. By that time, holographic technology had even excelled that of the Asgard. I am able to move all over the SGC. I'm also an integral part of the base's sensor systems, installed in 2021... so I have eyes and ears."
Needing to get away from her, he got to his feet and walked a few feet away. Exhaling, he remained turned away from her. He said, "What's going on? Why are you here?"
He flinched when she suddenly appeared in front of him, an indefinable depth of sadness in her eyes. She said, "I'm here to save you, Daniel... and to save the universe. We don't have much time. Please. Sit down."
However, he hesitated once again as he realised something. He said, a little scared, "You said it's the year 42,007."
She nodded, and he continued, "40,000 years have passed between where I've come from, and here."
She nodded once again. He sighed as the realisation hit him once again. Looking very sad, he said, "Then, you're dead." She didn't need to nod, and he continued, pacing around, "You're dead and gone... our friends – Teal'c, Mitchell, Vala..." His voice faltered as he spoke the last name. "Jack." A tear involuntarily rolled down his cheek. "Everyone and everything I know is dead and turned to dust."
He left the control room, the archaeologist struggling to cope with the conflicting emotions arising within him.
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Daniel stepped into what had been his office. In its stead, he found rickety old shelves with ancient looking books that crumbled beneath his touch. The smell of the room reminded him of the tomb of a Pharaoh – the very dry stench of old death that catches you at the back of the throat. Around him, instead of the comfort and refuge that he sought, was nothing but death and the ravages of time.
Suddenly he felt as claustrophobic as the first, and subsequent times when he, as a child, had accompanied either of his parents into a tomb. He needed to get out of there. He rushed out of the room, bending over outside as he took deep breaths to steady his frayed nerves. This was ridiculous. All he did was dial the 'gate for Earth so he could report back to Landry the progress of negotiations with the inhabitants of a trinium-rich planet. By now, he probably would have been on his way back to the planet.
As he straightened up, he came face-to-face once again with older-Sam. She smiled at him in that way which now killed him inside each time she did it. She asked him,
"Are you hungry? Do you need food?"
Food was far from his mind right now, despite the fact that he hadn't eaten for at least a few hours. This was much more beyond food. He had to go home again – he couldn't stay here in this wretched place. He said,
"Just send me home. Please."
She shook her head, and said, "Not just yet, Daniel. According to my calculations, another solar flare with the same characteristics won't hit until 44007." She cringed a little. "... which isn't at all helpful... because also by my calculations, Sol will turn into a supernova in a thousand years."
Forgetting himself, he exclaimed, "What?" He shook his head. "Okay, you've gotta do something. I'm not even going to go into the impracticalities involved here."
She smiled a ghost of a smile as she watched him. She said, "So impatient when things aren't going your way. Just like Claire."
He was about to query her last remark, when she smiled at him again. She said, "Well, as you may have fathomed, I have a potential solution." Her smile wavered a little. "How do you feel about stasis pods?"
He walked straight past her, before turning back to see her watching him. He said, "Sure, whatever." He sighed. "I imagine you won't tell me anything I want to know anyway."
She cocked her head a little. "Well, it depends whether you want to know the winners of major sporting events, or whether you want to know what happens after you're gone." She smiled a little. "But first, you're gonna need some food. If Samantha's memories are accurate, you haven't eaten for the best part of a day in your time."
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Daniel sat a table in the dimly lit Commissary, poking at his food more than he was eating it. If he was honest with himself, the deserted room really didn't help his appetite. Everywhere he looked, he remembered his friends at different points of SG-1 history.
SG-1 history.
SG-1 was history... as was the SGC, and his friends. Everyone he loved and respected; everyone he disliked even, were gone. After all this time, there couldn't be any remains to mourn over. Only memories... and he hadn't even had a chance to say goodbye.
His gaze eventually returned to the holographic representation who was seated opposite him. She said, "Come on, Daniel. Eat."
He grimaced a little as he looked down at the array of dried food before him. He then said, "Tell me about everything. What happened... what happens after I end up here?"
She now appeared to stare through him, her gaze distant as she began to recount events that seemed surreal to him. She said softly, "After you were gone, things started going pretty badly for us. Adria and her forces began to get the upper hand more and more, and there was no-one to stop it. Within a year, the galaxy fell to the Ori onslaught in a series of bloody battles."
Despite her inorganic form, a tear rolled down her cheek. She continued, "The Jaffa were destroyed. We lost Teal'c and Bra'tac. Little did we know that they wouldn't be the last of our losses."
He stared at her in shock, unable to believe what she had just said. He closed his eyes, his mind not willing to accept the fact that people who were so alive in his memories, were now dead.
"... Vala was next. Adria captured her and killed her. Cam died trying to save her." More tears fell from older-Sam's eyes. She said, "Jack, Landry and Hammond went down with the Odyssey when it came under attack from the Ori forces." She sighed quietly. "Over the years, we buried more and more empty caskets. Too many."
As a tear rolled down Daniel's cheek, he asked quietly, "What about you? What happened?"
"By then, I had resigned my commission." She smiled a little through her tears. "And I was pregnant. No-one knew where you'd gone, but I worked it out." She looked downwards and said depreciatingly. "Of course, Samantha Carter-Jackson would have to work everything out."
He blinked suddenly, and said, flabbergasted, "Wait a minute." He held up a hand briefly. "You... you were pregnant?"
She appeared amused at the state of shock that he was in. She said, "Well, I would have had to have been to give birth to Claire Danielle Jackson, wouldn't I?" She smirked. "Sometimes, for a genius, you can be pretty dim."
He frowned, retorting, "I'm not psychic."
"You're also cute when you're defensive." Her smile faded as she returned to her narrative. "While I brought up our daughter, I watched our friends die. I watched as their teams returned through the Stargate without them. I did my best to help, but I didn't know what I was dealing with." She paused. "But then, for some reason, the Ori disappeared."
He frowned again as he contemplated what she had told him so far. He said, "The Ancients."
She shrugged, and said, "We don't know for sure. All we know is that they were all gone... Adria, the Ori..." She sighed sadly. "But it was too late. The Ori had destabilised our Sun. The full extent of the effects were only realised many years afterwards. We evacuated the last of humanity. There were too few of us left to pick and choose like in Deep Impact."
Her voice wavered as she continued, "Claire stayed with me as I worked on a way to get you back. I realised what had happened and knew that it was just a case of being in the right place at the right time." She sighed. "I eventually managed to get Claire through the Stargate to Cimmeria." She smiled through her tears. "That girl quite literally went kicking and screaming... like her father."
He suddenly felt guilty as he realised just how much she had been through. He also felt galled that she had had to do it all alone; that there had been no-one at her side. Most of all, in amongst the death, what resounded in his head was that she had been pregnant the last time he had seen her, and he hadn't known.
He said softly, "I'm sorry." He sat up straight, looking hopeful. "But if I go back, I can change things, right?"
She nodded, her face marred with a lot of old pain. She swallowed, and said, "Yes. With you around, with your insight, we would have stood a better chance. You would have worked something out."
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Daniel stumbled through the event horizon of the Stargate; for the second time that day, having to slow himself down. Breathing a sigh of relief, he looked around at the place he had long come to call home. He was in the gateroom of the SGC and the temperature was a lot less stifling than it had been. Also, there were people.
People who were now putting their guns away slowly.
A glance upwards revealed Walter back in his usual place in the control room, with various technicians, and a surprised looking Landry.
And at the base of the ramp waited the two men and two women whom he had come to call family. He slowly walked towards them, the archaeologist standing before them silently.
Moments later, he was engulfed in a hug from Sam, who whispered in his ear, "Where the hell were you?"
He held onto her to make sure that she was real. He closed his eyes as he breathed in her familiar scent, allowing himself to be encompassed by the warmth he felt both physically and mentally whenever he was around her. He opened his eyes again as the rest of his team took turns in ruffling his hair rather roughly, making him scowl.
He was about to let go of Sam in order to try to tell what would no doubt prove a fantastic tale. However, she wouldn't budge, and he frowned, realising that perhaps he had been gone a lot longer than he had initially surmised.
As Vala took the opportunity to steal sunglasses from his pocket, Cam said, "You've been gone a week, Jackson. This better be a good story this time."
Teal'c remarked with a faint smirk, "Whether the narrative can or will be considered 'good' is questionable. However, I have no doubt that it will be of interest."
Vala added impatiently, "Okay, but if he was just lost in the local library, someone's got a lot of cultural edification excursions to organise for their favourite sexy alien."
Everyone else hid smiles as she winked at Daniel, who rolled his eyes. Cam said, ruffling Daniel's hair once again, "Good to have ya back, Jackson."
As the rest of the team reflected his sentiments in their own ways, Cam nodded at them, silently telling them to give Daniel and Sam a moment's privacy. When at last the Jacksons were left alone, Sam looked up at him, her eyes watery. She said,
"I thought that maybe..." She shook her head. "But you're here. You came back."
Daniel gazed at her, recalling the holographic representation of her older self. One day, he knew, she would be gone, as would everyone else that he knew and loved. But that day wasn't today, and that, for now, was enough for him. It had to be.
He gently kissed her. He then said, "It's a long story. I went to the future because of a solar flare. I better wait until I make it to the briefing room, because I don't think I have it in me to tell this story twice." He hugged her, and whispered, "Congratulations."
She stared up at him wide-eyed, realising why he had said what he had said. Forgetting momentarily what he had initially said, she asked, "How did you know? I only just found out myself." She pressed her lips together briefly as she glanced downwards. "I still can't believe it."
He gently reached down to smooth her stomach through her combat fatigues. He said, "You could say that you told me." When she looked at him sceptically, he continued, "And that's part of the story for the briefing room too."
He put an arm around her as they left the gateroom together. He said, "Anyway, come on, I'll bet Carolyn wants to poke me with a lot of stuff before I get to tell my story." He smiled briefly despite his growing worries. He said, "You know, in some cultures, that's considered a serious faux pas."