Frostburn
By: Hellboy
Hey! Look! Legalese!: Stargate SG-1 is a trademark of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios and MGM Television Entertainment. This work of fiction contains both copyrighted and original characters whose copyrights are held respectively.
Summary: A poor performance review conflicts Sam as she has to deal with a rogue system lord, a rival SG team commander, and snow in her boots.
I've been writing for years, but this is my first attempt at fan fiction.
Chapter One
"...anyways I'm sorry, but that just happens to be how I feel about it. What do you think?"
Carter looked at Daniel for a moment and only managed to respond with a confused "What?"
"I was just talking about your promotion. Weren't you paying attention?" Sam could sense the frustration in Daniel's voice.
"I'm sorry Daniel. I really am. I've just got alot on my mind lately." She glanced down to the pile of papers sitting next to her.
Tealc raised an eyebrow and looked at Sam across the table. "Are you concerned about taking over SG-1?"
"Yes. No. I don't know." She pushed some of the fruit in her bowl around with a spoon. "I thought I was ready for this, but this review has really gotten to me." She pointed to the performance evaluation folder sitting next to her breakfast tray.
"Can I read it?" asked Daniel, already reaching for the blue folder.
"I'm not sure..." She took a brief sip of her herbal tea as she mulled her options over. She knew if she didn't let somebody give her feedback, she'd probably drive herself crazy. She picked up the folder and handed it to Daniel. "Tell me what you think, honestly."
Daniel opened the report and started to read. As Sam watched him, her thoughts drifted over the events of the last few weeks. General Hammond was gone. O'Neill was promoted to commander of the SGC. She was now in charge of SG-1, and Tealc was growing hair.
Daniel closed the report and handed it to Tealc.
"Well? Your thoughts?" asked Sam, trying not to sound anxious.
Daniel paused for moment, as if trying to find the right thing to say. He finally arrived at, "Well, Major Faireborn was very concise."
"Concise?" Sam almost choked the word out. "He practically called me unfit for command. I wouldn't be surprised if he wanted to command SG-1 himself."
Tealc set down the dog-eared folder, "On the contrary Colonel Carter, Major Faireborn has said on many occasions that he wishes to stay the commander of SG-4. Before General Hammond was promoted, he offered Major Faireborn SG-2. He refused. He is not ambitious."
"Then why would he give me such a bad review. I've never gotten a bad review, ever."
Daniel poured himself a new glass of orange juice from the carafe. "I don't think it was a bad review, Sam. I think it was fair."
Sam could feel herself becoming defensive. "Fair?"
"Yes. Major Faireborn merely suggested that you needed more command experience. And let's be honest, this is your first command."
"Well that may be true, but I think Faireborn went out of bounds when he said that I was too academic." Sam collected her papers and started to get up.
Daniel and Tealc followed Sam's lead as she stood up and left the cafeteria. They finally caught up with her at the elevator.
She swiped her card and waited, then turned to her teammates. "Am I making too much out of this?"
Daniel looked at Tealc, hoping he would jump into the conversation. Tealc returned the look with his usual stoic demeanor. "Uh, yeah. Remember when General Hammond first assigned you SG-1? Jack practically threw a fit."
That day stood out in her memory, "Yeah, I guess it could have been worse." The doors to the elevator opened. "I'm going to talk to Colonel, I mean, General O'Neill. Wanna come along?"
As Sam, Daniel and Tealc entered the command room, the stargate started to rotate. Instantaneously alarm claxons started to sound. "Unscheduled offworld activation," came the voice of Seargeant Davis over the PA. The seventh chevron lit up and the familiar sound of an established wormhole emanated through the room.
The speakers in the command center crackled to life. "This is Faireborn. We're under hostile fire. Have reinforcements ready." Everybody looked at the IDC Computer.
Davis announced, "We're receiving SG-4's IDC." He turned to look at General O'Neill.
"Open the iris."
As soon as the iris opened, blasts of energy came through the wormhole. After a few seconds, Sioban Callaghan, the Anthropologist for SG-4 came through the gate pulling a team member. Quickly followed by Major Faireborn who had a team member draped over his back.
As soon as he was through, Major Faireborn yelled "Close the iris!"
The iris started to close, but an energy blast came though in the last second, hitting Callaghan's backpack. The sheer force of the blast pushed her down the ramp. Faireborn ran over to her and pulled the emergency releases for the pac. They fell away as the backpack started to turn white with frost.
SG-1 entered the gate room along with General O'Neill after the medical teams rushed in. They stopped after their first few steps into the gate room. The room seemed much colder. Their attention turned to the main window of the control room which was starting to frost up. When it reached the top, an audible crack could be heard.
"Had a run in with Snow Miser?" O'Neill quipped.
"More like the Gatherer of the Dead," Faireborn responded. "I think we've got a big problem on our hands."