Sam gazed up, the sky mostly obscured by the jungle plants. There wasn't much to look at anyway; the sky was overcast, not ominous but simply a blanket of grey. She sighed. Normally, when the team slept under the stars, she liked for there to actually be stars.
She turned over to face the rest of SG-1, the ground squishing beneath her as she did so. Teal'c sat off to the side, taking his turn at the watch. His gaze flicked between the thick jungle around them and the team.
Daniel hadn't even opened his sleeping bag and was instead using it as a mattress. As his face, like hers, was lined with sweat from the intense humidity the planet had exhibited since they arrived, she didn't blame him.
The colonel, as usual, looked unperturbed by the weather, though he had yet to begin his sleeping preparations. He stared at the sky, unseeing.
"You know," Daniel spoke for the first time since they'd settled for the night, "this planet is exactly what I imagined Vietnam was like, when I was a kid."
"Me too," Sam admitted. "I always wondered what it was really like."
The colonel still hadn't moved.
"Sir?" she hazarded, slightly worried.
"Yeah, Carter?" The colonel turned to look at her.
"Were you in Vietnam?"
⸺⸺⸺
"Corporal Angus MacGyver, meet Sergeant Charlie Robinson, your new partner."
⸺
"What made you decide to go into EOD, Mac?"
⸺
Bullets constantly raining on all sides, punctuated by screams. Soldiers turning every direction, trying in vain to find a target. The soldier next to him falls, gurgling from the hole in his throat.
⸺
"Mac, it's not your fault."
"How can you say that?! It's my job to spot IEDs! I didn't see that one and now three men are dead because of me! Lieutenant Long is still in critical condition, even after they fixed his skull! How is that not my fault, Charlie?"
⸺
"Tôi ở đây để giúp đỡ bạn."
"Biến đi!"
"Không sao đâu, cô bé."
"Không!"
"Đợi đã, đừng bước—!"
⸺
"Mac, you haven't spoken in two days. Mac?"
"What's the point of all this?"
⸺
Dragging his leg behind him, ignoring the searing pain he could now recognize anywhere as a bullet wound, he pulled himself forward. The bomb was just a little bit farther…
⸺
"Smith and his men have been missing for two weeks now, Mac. They're not coming back."
"You don't know them the way I do."
⸺
"No, don't. Don't be a hero, Jim."
"...I'm sorry, Mac."
"Jim!"
⸺
In memory of the men and women who served in the Vietnam War and later died as a result of their service. We honor and remember their sacrifice.
⸺⸺⸺
"Nah," the colonel answered with an easy grin. "Just missed it."
His gaze returned to the sky.
I apologize for any translation errors. I do not speak Vietnamese so I had to use Google Translate. Google Translate is its own warning.
Tôi ở đây để giúp đỡ bạn - I'm here to help you
Biến đi - go away
Không sao đâu, cô bé - it's okay, kid/girl/little girl
Không - No
Đợi đã, đừng bước - wait, don't walk—