Hi. This is a one off Stargate SG1/Doctor Who crossover story set in the 1st season of Stargate SG1 and featuring the 7th Doctor and a familiar, but unusual TARDIS crew. I make the usual disclaimers about copyright etc.
I haven't watched all the stories set in the Stargate universe, so if something I've written has been shown to be wrong, I apologise and hope it doesn't ruin any enjoyment you might have in the story itself.
Brief Encounter
"General Hammond says…" The wormhole closed with a dull thump, but Colonel Jack O'Neill ignored the sound. He was focussed on the scene before him. Since he'd started travelling through the Stargate, he'd seen bizarre. Bizarre was normal. This was bizarre plus.
The sun was low but still shining brightly, its light a little more yellow than Earth's. It was pleasantly warm, with a light breeze freshening the air. The Stargate was in a large clearing, surrounded by trees. The grass was a deep, vibrant green, with the treeline about 300 feet from the Stargate. A stream flowed gently through the clearing, the sound of water gently tinkling across stones adding to the rural serenity of the scene. This wasn't what had surprised him, however. All this information, and more, had been sent back to Stargate Command by the M.A.L.P., which now stood, immobile beside the D.H.D.
What the M.A.L.P. hadn't shown was the welcoming party, which stood to the side of the Stargate. The existence of such a thing wasn't unprecedented. In the, almost 12 months, that SG-1 had been in existence, they had been greeted with everything from being worshipped as returning gods to being immediately attacked. What was different this time was its appearance. There were two of them, a man, and a woman. They looked like humans in well preserved middle age. Again, not unusual.
What set this welcoming party apart from the others was their clothing. The woman wore a white top, blue pants and a matching blue sweater. Around her neck was what looked like a necklace of matched pearls. The man had a well brushed moustache, it's original dark colour liberally speckled with grey. He wore a tweed jacket, white shirt, a tartan tie, grey pants and brown, leather shoes. On his head he had what looked like a chequered cap with a brim on the front. Their clothing all looked machine made. Colonel O'Neill would have been the first to admit that he wasn't exactly fashion conscious, but he had spent several postings in the UK and he'd seen people dressed similarly there. His suspicion seemed confirmed when the man spoke.
"Hello. I'm Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart and this is my wife, Doris. Welcome to the planet of Borlos." The accent was clipped and distinctly British.
They didn't look or act like Goa'uld. No glowy eye thingy, for a start and they hadn't demanded that the team bow down and worship them. Jack pulled himself together, noticing the way the man carried himself and how his eyes moved over the team, evaluating their uniforms, Daniel's long, untidy hair and mentally cataloguing their weapons and equipment. The man, who called himself Lethbridge-Stewart's gaze finally rested on Teal'c. He stared at the Jaffa and his eyebrows rose, almost imperceptibly. This guy was military for sure. But, at least, neither he nor his wife, seemed hostile…so far.
Jack checked his team. Daniel and Sam were practically vibrating with curiosity. They were barely holding themselves back from asking the torrent of questions raised by these apparent Brits presence here. Teal'c, in contrast, remained his usual stoic self, but Jack could see from the way he gripped his staff weapon, that he was ready for an attack. He too recognised the stranger as a professional soldier.
Jack took a step forward, his face stretched into a smile. "Hi. I'm Jack O'Neill, this is Samantha Carter, Daniel Jackson and Teal'c. It's good to meet you folks. You from round here?"
Lethbridge-Stewart's mouth twitched in amusement. "No. Like you, we're visitors here."
His wife, Doris added. "When the circle thing activated, the Doctor asked us to welcome whoever came through and say that the… I forget what he called it. That thing…" She waved towards the D.H.D, "is broken, but not to worry, he'll have it repaired in a jiffy."
"He'd better!" her husband grumbled. "Otherwise, how are we going to get back home? I should have known this little jaunt was going to be a disaster from the moment the Doctor suggested it!"
Jack opened his mouth to ask about this mysterious "doctor". Doctor Who? But his question was pre-empted.
"Kryashnerka!" The sound seemed to come from the D.H.D. The language was unknown to Jack, but he recognised a swear word when he heard one.
All eyes turned towards the device and Jack noticed, for the first time, that a tan coloured Panama hat with a brightly coloured hatband was resting on what he thought of as the big, red, button. A man popped up from behind the pedestal like a Jack in the Box. He had dark, medium length hair and wore a tan jacket, a thin tie, with the top button of his shirt undone and, for some reason, a sweater covered in question marks. The SG-1 team reacted, bringing their MP5A3's to the ready position, but quickly lowered them after judging the man was not an immediate threat.
The man gave everyone a crooked grin and said, in a strong Scottish accent, "I'm afraid it's going to take a smidgeon more than a jiffy, after all. Probably closer to a few moments."
"And how would you define "a few moments", Doctor?" Lethbridge-Stewart sounded resigned. He was clearly used to the other man's manner of speech.
The Doctor glanced down, speculatively. "About thirty minutes in your time units, Brigadier."
"I was right!" Jack thought. "Brigadier. That's a British Army rank. This guy is definitely military! Does that mean the British have a Stargate programme? But that's impossible! Perhaps the Brits had got hold of some other alien technology?"
"Sir." Carter interrupted his thoughts. "Perhaps I can help the Doctor repair the D.H.D?"
The Doctor gave her a speculative look, taking in her uniform, body armour and weapon. "This is a highly advanced example of astral engineering. What are you going to do? Point your gun at it and threaten to shoot if it doesn't start working?"
Used to having her academic credentials questioned, Sam remained calm. "I have a Ph.D. in Theoretical Astrophysics and practical experience working with Stargates." She replied.
"Well, I suppose I might need someone to hold things while I work." The Doctor replied, then gave her a manic, Cheshire Cat grin, taking the sting out of his insult.
Jack thought about it. The presence of these people on an alien planet raised questions, lots of questions, but they didn't seem to pose any immediate threat and having Carter keep an eye on this Doctor guy sounded like a good idea, especially as they would be relying on the D.H.D to get them safely back home.
"Yeh. Do it, Carter."
Jack watched as Sam jogged over to the D.H.D and hunkered down beside the Doctor, staring over his shoulder.
She gasped in astonishment leaning in for a closer look. "Sir, this is amazing!"
"Yeah, just get the damn thing running again, Carter. You can put all the technical doohickie in the report." Jack walked towards the Brigadier.
"So, do you come here often?" he asked.
The man's lips twitched again. "No. It's our first visit. You?"
Jack shrugged, "Ours too. So, where are you folks from?"
"The same planet as you, I suspect." Lethbridge-Stewart replied.
"We're from the good old U.S. of A." Jack confirmed. "And you guys are English right?"
Lethbridge-Stewart paused before replying. "Actually, I'm Scottish, but we're British, yes."
"So, how did you get here?" Jack asked.
The Brigadier pointed towards the Stargate. "Through that."
"Where from?" Jack asked. "Because as sure as God made little green apples, you didn't come here direct from Earth."
"The Doctor called the planet Rallufex. Not the most picturesque place for a day trip."
The Doctor's voice came from behind the D.H.D. "I wouldn't call Rallufex the ugliest planet in this galaxy, but it's certainly in the top five for this spiral arm. I promised the Brigadier and Doris a nice day out to celebrate their wedding anniversary. I couldn't believe that the TARDIS decided to take us there; so I decided to use what you call the Stargate to bring us here. I've been to Borlos before, and I knew they'd love it here."
A nice day out to celebrate an anniversary? Previous visits to this planet? Familiarity with the Stargate system? The sheer casualness of this Doctor's reference to interstellar travel rocked Jack to the core, but he concentrated on what he felt was the key part of the comment.
"What the hell is a TARDIS?".
"What's the US doing with this Stargate thing?"
He and the Brigadier spoke, at the same time.
"That's classified." They both replied, simultaneously.
The two men glared at each other. The others stiffened, sensing the tension building up between them.
Then Doris spoke. "Look, we're all here and we're in the same boat. If the Doctor can't repair this D.H.D, none of us are going anywhere. So why don't you both stop glaring at each other and wait for the Doctor to finish the repairs?" She turned towards Daniel and Teal'c with a smile. "Mr Jackson, Mr Teal'c, I'd offer you something to eat while we're waiting, but we've already finished our picnic. There's a couple of sausage rolls left and some bread and cheese we picked up at the local market, if you'd like? They're rather good."
Jack looked behind her and the saw a wicker picnic basket with a neatly folded checkered tablecloth resting on top of it. Beside the basket were two bulging canvas bags. Out of the top of one peeked a loaf of bread, while the head of a carved wooden animal of a species he didn't recognise, poked out of its companion. It looked like they'd shopped until they dropped. If this was some sort of official British space programme, they seemed to be going about things in a very casual way. This entire mission was taking on an Alice in Wonderland quality!
Daniel pounced on the implication contained in her offer. "This planet's inhabited?" He asked, excitedly.
Doris nodded. "Yes. There's a market town about twenty minutes' walk away." She pointed towards part of the treeline. "There's a path over there. Just follow it and you'll come to a wider track. You can see the town from there."
"Are they human? What level of development are they at? What's their social structure like? Does their culture resemble anything from Earth's history? What language do they speak? How were you received? Do they know about the Stargate…?"
"Daniel, down boy!" Jack ordered. He saw that the Brigadier's amused look and, for the first time, felt they were sharing a genuine mutual understanding.
"So," Lethbridge-Stewart's eyes took in Jack's discreet rank insignia, "Colonel, your team seems to have a wide range of interests for a Special Forces unit. An astrophysicist, some sort of anthropologist and a…" He waved towards Teal'c, who was still standing guard by the Stargate.
"I am a Jaffa." Teal'c said. "But I do not understand, O'Neill. Did you not tell me that your people fought for their freedom against the British? This man is a warrior. Are you not then enemies?"
"It's a long story, Teal'c. We get along pretty good these days." Jack replied. "I'll explain later."
"Jaffa?" The Brigadier asked. "Like the oranges?"
The Doctor's Scottish brogue, once again, came from behind the D.H.D. "Jaffa, Alastair. The emphasis is on the final "a". Originally human, but genetically engineered by the Goa'uld to serve them as soldiers… and other things. I'll explain later."
"Sir, you really do need to see this!" Sam's voice was insistent.
Jack and the Brigadier once again shared a look as they began strolling towards the D.H.D, leaving Doris trying her best to answer Daniel's torrent of questions. They reached the pedestal, where they were joined by Teal'c.
"Wow! I thought you had to physically take the top off to get to the internal thingumajigs?"
Somehow, an aperture had appeared in the D.H.D's plinth. Being projected from it was what appeared to be a schematic of the device's internal structure. Jack noticed that flashing lights were showing in several areas. The Doctor hands were inside the projection, his fingers moving swiftly and confidently. As Jack watched, he saw the flashing in one section slow down and then settle into a steady glow. The Doctor paused, and apparently satisfied, brought up a different section with a wave of his hand and began working on that.
"It's a 3-D holographic representation of the control system, but it has a manual interface!" Sam sounded excited. "This is amazing! Do you know what it means, Sir?"
"No more manual labour for Teal'c and me?" Jack deadpanned.
"Yes, sir, exactly. Somehow, the builders of the Stargates could use holograms to manipulate the actual physical components of the D.H.D. Think of the applications if we could reverse engineer the technology! Not just making repairs to damaged D.H.D's easier…we could use it to repair nuclear reactors, vehicles, medical equipment anything …if the Doctor can just show me how to access and use the system…"
The Doctor had paused, studying the schematic. All the flashing areas were now glowing in steady shades of blues, reds, and greens.
"It's idiot proof." The Doctor replied, absently. "If a part needs replacement it will show up in black. You just remove it, like this…" He dived in, grabbed a holographic crystal, apparently at random and removed his hand. Everyone stared at the, very real, blue crystal in his hand.
"Doctor…!" the Brigadier nodded, warningly at the hologram, which had started flashing again.
"Not to worry, Alistair." The Doctor grinned up at the older man as he replaced the crystal. The lights, once again, settled down into a steady glow. "If the system, just needs a hand to repair itself, the affected area or areas will flash on and off. You just need to keep fiddling until the flashing stops. It should work now, but I'm going to run a diagnostic just to double check."
The Doctor's hand, once again, entered the hologram. He flicked a finger and the schematic disappeared, to be replaced with a series of scrolling symbols.
"Those look like one of the languages we saw on Ernest's planet!" Daniel had joined them. He leaned forward to study the symbols more closely.
"We want to be gone before it gets dark." The Doctor murmured to himself as he twitched a finger. The symbols scrolled down faster, too fast for any of the humans to follow. The Doctor, however, kept his eyes on the information stream, apparently having no difficulty reading it. He, absent-mindedly, picked up an umbrella that had been lying beside him, held it upright and rested his chin on its handle.
Daniel had put two and two together. "You can read this language. You can't be human. Are you a member of the race that built the Stargates?" He asked, excitedly.
The Doctor gave a dismissive grunt. "No, they were almost as boring as my people."
Jack glanced towards Lethbridge-Stewart and his wife. Neither seemed surprised at this revelation. "You look human." He said.
"No, Colonel O'Neill. You look Gallifreyan. We were here first." The symbols stopped scrolling and what looked like a short message appeared. The Doctor gave a satisfied grunt and stood up, brushing his pants. "All ship-shape and Bristol fashion." He announced, rubbing his hands together. "Brigadier, Doris, get your things. If we leave now, I'll have you home in good time for Eastenders." He gave a puckish smile as he picked up his hat and deftly rolled it down his arm until it sat on his head at a rakish angle.
The Brigadier groaned. "At least I can enjoy a whisky and soda in my Study while it's on."
As he spoke, the Doctor hit one of the symbols three times in a row. The aperture closed, leaving no trace that it had ever been there.
"That's the Point of Origin symbol." Carter observed.
"Yes, very observant of you." The Doctor looked at her like a proud teacher complimenting a prize pupil.
"Hey, you can't just leave!" Jack said. "I've still got a heck of a lot of questions and my superiors will have even more..."
"I'm sorry, Colonel. As I said, we're just day trippers." Seeing Jack look undecided, the Brigadier raised his eyebrows. "I hope you're not considering using force to keep us here?"
"We wouldn't do that." Sam assured him. She turned to the Doctor. "You clearly come from a highly technologically advanced civilisation, and you clearly already know about the threat the Goa'uld pose to Earth. If Brigadier and Mrs Lethbridge-Stewart are friends, surely, you'd want to help us protect their planet? Share your technology and knowledge?"
The Doctor was silent for a long moment. "I'm sorry, but that would violate my people's non-interference policy." He finally said.
For a split second, Jack saw the Brigadier's eyebrows rise in surprise at the answer. Then the expression was gone, and the man's face had returned to normal.
"Well, it's been nice to meet you. We must be leaving now." The Doctor added.
Jack considered his options. If this alien had access to technology that was capable to taking people halfway across the galaxy on day trips, his people were at least as advanced as the Nox and the builders of the Stargates. If the Doctor was any guide, they didn't seem to be aggressive, but, imprisoning a member of their species would probably piss them off and, unlike the Nox, they might not be pacifists. And taking hostages and stealing stuff wasn't the way General Hammond ran the Stargate Programme. He didn't approve of it either, and not just because it was self defeating in the long term.
He reached a decision. "Hey, we'd be very grateful for anything you could tell us, any technology that could help us against the Goa'uld, but, like Carter said, we won't force you. You're all free to go. Just think about it, OK?" He consoled himself with the thought that Stargate Command could always trace them once they were back on Earth. How many Brigadier Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart's could there be in the UK, for God's sake?
The Doctor grinned. "I will." He promised.
SG-1 watched as the Lethbridge-Stewarts gathered their belongings and the Doctor dialled. The gate opened with the familiar whoosh as the wormhole formed, then settled into the shimmering water effect. The three of them walked towards the gate. The Brigadier and his wife went through first, the Doctor lingered long enough to call, "Oh, Daniel, Doris might have said that the people here speak English. Well, I wouldn't take her word for it. You might want to brush up on your Old Welsh." He grinned and gave a final nod of acknowledgement as he passed through the event horizon. Seconds later the wormhole closed.
"You got that gate address, Carter?" Jack asked.
"Yes, sir."
"Good. Daniel dial home."
"But Jack, there's a whole civilization here. Don't you think…?"
"The sun will be going down soon, and the town will still be here tomorrow. Besides, we need to report this to General Hammond." Jack said, firmly.
Daniel nodded, reluctantly and went across to the D.H.D.
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Stargate Command – 14 November 1997
General Hammond entered the Gate Room as SG-1 walked down the ramp.
"You're back early, Colonel." He observed.
"Yes, Sir. Two reasons for that. One, the sun would have set by the time we reached the nearest town, and two, we ran into a couple'a elderly Brits travelling with an alien from a highly advanced civilisation".
"What!" General Hammond stared at the leader of his top SG team as if doubting either their sanity or his own.
"He's telling the truth, Sir." Carter said.
Hammond took a moment to collect his thoughts. "Sounds like it's going to be a fascinating de-brief. Check in with Doctor Fraiser and report to the Conference Room…"
He was interrupted by Master Sergeant Harriman hurrying into the room. The man looked uncharacteristically nervous.
"Excuse me, Sir, but you have a telephone call."
"Just take a message, Harriman!" The General said, impatiently.
The words came out in a rush. "Sir, it's someone calling himself Brigadier Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart from something called the United Nations Intelligence Taskforce. He said that he hoped that Colonel O'Neill and his team had returned safely from Borlos and he wants to talk to you, Sir!" He paused. "Oh, and he hoped that the Colonel had remembered to bring the robot thing back with him as he disapproves of littering."
Everyone stared at the Master Sergeant in confusion. General Hammond turned to Jack with a questioning look.
"That was the name of the British guy." Jack confirmed.
Hammond squared his shoulders. "Then I guess I'd better take the call." He took a few steps, then turned to face SG-1. "Oh, Colonel, what about the M.A.L.P.?"
Jack pretended to look around for it, then shrugged. "I guess we forgot. Tell him, we'll bring it back tomorrow, Sir" He suggested.
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Lethbridge-Stewart Residence – 16 April 1990
The Brigadier and the Doctor were in the Brigadier's Study. The curtains were drawn, and a standard lamp gave a soft glow to the room. They were seated opposite each other in comfortable leather armchairs, each holding a whisky and soda. The Doctor had just finished explaining about the Goa'uld and the Stargate programme.
Lethbridge-Stewart took a sip from his glass. "So, these Goa'uld things really are a threat to Earth." He concluded.
The Doctor shrugged. "During the early period of the Stargate programme, you were more of an irritation than a threat, but that will change in time. They will, in time, make at least two major attempts to destroy or subjugate your planet, plus various other alien species will attempt to conquer Earth through the Gate."
"I can approach Geneva. UNIT could force the Americans to shut down the entire project before trouble starts." The Brigadier suggested.
"You can't do that, Alastair, for two reasons. First, the Stargate programme is a fixed point in Earth's history. It can't be stopped. Secondly, …" The Doctor looked a little shifty, "They haven't actually been able to get the Gate working yet."
"What!" The Brigadier took another sip as he thought this through. "So, as well as taking us light years across the galaxy, you took us forward in time as well. How much?"
"Not long. About seven years. If you'd asked Colonel O'Neill, he'd have told you the date was 14 November 1997."
Lethbridge-Stewart sat back, finally understanding. "Ah! I should have known! You turn up out of the blue, persuade Doris to celebrate our anniversary with a day trip off planet and I agree, much against my better judgement. You set up that entire meeting!" He accused. "What would have happened if this Colonel O'Neill chap had decided to take us prisoner?"
The Doctor had the grace to look mildly apologetic, "We were never in any danger. Colonel O'Neill is a fundamentally decent man, as is his superior, General Hammond. And you both looked like you were enjoying yourself. You certainly seemed to like the local beer! I just thought that you might find a glimpse into Earth's near future…illuminating."
"Hum." The Brigadier sat back, considering. "This General Hammond, what sort of chap is he?"
"Well, he's no Brigadier Alastair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart, but, if circumstances dictated, he would make an adequate stand-in." The Doctor looked at his watch. "Ace will be back from her reunion with Shou Yuing soon, no doubt excited about their experiments with the latest developments in explosive substances! I'd better be going. I'll see myself out and say goodbye to Doris as I go past the living room."
"Yes, of course. It's certainly been an interesting day. Goodbye Doctor…and thank you." The Brigadier rose and shook the Time Lord's hand before escorting him to the door, closing it as soon as the Doctor left the Study.
The Doctor lingered, his sensitive hearing, picking up the sound of a telephone receiver being removed from its hook, then, after a brief pause, the Brigadier's voice asking to speak to Brigadier Bambera. Satisfied that the seeds he had sown had dropped onto fertile soil, he proceeded into the living room to say goodbye to Doris.
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The Doctor stood in the TARDIS trying to get the Space-Time Communicator to work. As he didn't use it often, it was one of the many systems he had failed to maintain. He just needed to get one more player on the board. Finally, he resorted to giving the device a thump and the screen lit up. There was a burst of static, then a thin, grey being with black eyes and an enlarged cranium appeared.
"Doctor, it has been almost a millennium."
"Yes, sorry about that, Thor. I've always been meaning to give you a call, but you know how it is. Things happen and it just slips your mind."
Thor's black eyes widened, questioningly. "And what particular thing has occurred to bring me back to the forefront of your mind?" He asked.
"I can't say much. The Laws of Time etcetera, etcetera. All I can tell you is that if you could arrange to be on your home world, in the vicinity of your Stargate on Standard Galactic date 49.3476. 9058247/GHPX, if you are patient, something to your advantage will take place."
"I assume you mean to the advantage of the entire Asgard race, rather than me, personally?"
The Doctor just smiled.
Thor nodded his understanding. "It can be arranged." He replied.
The Doctor rubbed his hands. "Excellent! I'll be in touch. Hopefully I won't leave it nearly a thousand years next time."
He broke the connection and allowed himself a satisfied smile. It was all working out as he'd planned. Alistair would ensure UNIT Headquarters in Geneva maintained a discreet watching brief over the progress of the Stargate Programme and help keep the U.S. President honest by providing a counterbalance against the hawks and vested interests who would seek to use the Gate for their own selfish purposes; while the Asgard would protect Earth until the humans were ready to stand on their own feet. This freed him to deal with other threats throughout the Universe without having to constantly rush back to Earth to save the humans from the consequences of their own actions.
The TARDIS doors opened, and an excited voice said "Hi Professor. You won't believe the ordinance Winifred let us play with!"
The Doctor turned and smiled broadly at Ace.
The End