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For Off-Screen Missions Alphabet Soup: the aborted mission at the beginning of Solitudes. Daniel's annoyed at wearing a helmet, but it turns out to be a very good thing. ~1,100 words. Rated G.
H is for Helmet
The ripples of the event horizon turned to shreds and vanished, leaving SG-1 standing on an alien planet with only the MALP for company.
"Let's get moving," Jack said briskly. "Teal'c and I will take the perimeter." He shot Daniel a pointed look. "And then the people with the helmets can go study the ruins."
"It's not as if we go on these missions fully equipped," Daniel grumbled, even as he stepped to the DHD and began studying the various symbols. "We'd need complete field packs if we really worried about long-term off-world survival."
"It's pretty amazing what we can fit into our pockets," Sam offered, stopping a pace away to watch over his shoulder. "And we can certainly move faster without so much equipment slowing us down."
"Oh, yeah, no complaints there." Daniel ran a finger down the curve of the DHD, stopping at one particular symbol. "Here we are. The point of origin."
Sam nodded, committing it to memory.
"But that just proves my point," Daniel continued, unwilling to fully drop the argument he'd begun with Jack while they were still on Earth. "If we have to pare down our equipment to a minimum to balance ease of movement with necessary supplies, I accept that. If we tailor our supplies to each particular mission, that's only good, common sense. But if Jack insisted that you and I wear helmets, what's his excuse for wearing his baseball cap instead?"
Sam's facial expression clearly showed she was trying not to laugh. "He doesn't want helmet hair?" she offered.
Daniel's own mouth quirked into a smile despite himself.
"Anyway, I can't figure out why it bothers you so much." Sam fell into step next to Daniel, walking toward the tumbled buildings half a klick away. "Unless you're worried about your lovely locks, it's no big deal to wear it."
"No, it's not," Daniel admitted easily enough. "It's just the hypocrisy that annoys me, I guess."
"There are worse things." Sam bumped shoulders with him companionably.
Daniel was opening his mouth to agree with her when the first attack seemed to come out of nowhere. A high-pitched whine, the scream of the air ripping itself apart, and a bright green light smashed into the ground a dozen feet away to the left.
Daniel, stunned, felt the impact of Sam's weight bearing him down to the ground, her instinct to protect the team's civilian clearly jolting her out of her shock at the unexpected attack. Then there was another burst of fire, from an entirely different direction, and then another, and another...
They were surrounded.
"Back to Earth!" Jack shouted, heading towards them at a dead run. He ducked his head involuntarily as another blast boomed directly above them. "Daniel, dial us up!"
Teal'c was suddenly there, hauling Daniel to his feet with effortless strength. "Go, Daniel Jackson," he ordered, and then turned to face their unknown enemy and provide cover fire.
Daniel took a gulping breath and bolted back to the DHD. This was always the moment of absolute trust for Daniel, when he put his faith in Jack and Teal'c and Sam, ignoring death roaring overhead while he worked to get them back to safety. He turned his back on the spitting bolts of flame, trying not to flinch or cringe or duck his head or do anything else that might distract him from the crucial task of dialing home.
Auriga. Cetus. Centaurus. Cancer. Scutum. Eridanus...
A screaming blast of green energy buried itself in the ground not three feet away. Daniel felt gravel bouncing off his helmet, more shards peppering his right shoulder. He ignored it, hand reaching out to slap the point of origin he'd identified only minutes before.
Another blast, a few inches closer, and Daniel forced himself to ignore that too as he slammed down on the DHD's central globe.
Another roar of energy, but this was the welcome blue of the activating event horizon, lashing outward in a burst of foaming entropy before it settled back into cool, welcoming ripples. Daniel almost fumbled the GDO, but his fingers skipped nimbly on the buttons, typing the crucial code to unlock Earth's back door.
"Green!" he hollered, hoping the others would get the message over the thunderous assault of their assailants.
"Go!" came the faint reply, and Jack must have been screaming at the top of his lungs for Daniel to hear him. "Teal'c, watch his six!"
No time to look backward; Daniel simply pumped his elbows and ran full-tilt towards the Stargate, trusting that Teal'c was right behind him. He took the four steps up to the platform in a single leap, even as he heard the distinctive concussion of Teal'c firing his staff weapon over and over again. He knew that Sam and Jack, too, would be running forward, ready to hurl themselves through the event horizon to the safety of Earth.
A new percussive roar seemed to white out all other sound, and out of the corner of his eye, Daniel glimpsed a massive bolt of green fire splash directly against the Stargate. Half-blinded and already somewhere on the other side of sheer terror, he ignored the drowning surge of fresh dread and dived straight into the active wormhole....
Late nights in the labs, during coffee or chocolate breaks, he and Sam had often speculated about Stargate travel. She had always insisted that a person couldn't actually think while going through the Stargate; wormhole physics, as far as they could understand, meant that those few seconds of other-spatial travel would be perceived as instantaneous. He'd countered with his own memories of flashes of sensations, of twisted confusion, of something other than here-then-there. It might simply be his brain trying to interpret the impossible, as Sam had once suggested, but Daniel still wondered.
Whether it was actual perception or misfiring brain synapses now, Daniel couldn't tell, but his mind was screaming at him that this wasn't normal, this wasn't right, this was --
He'd expected to come half-flying through the Stargate, landing sprawling on the metal grate of the ramp, his kinetic speed upon entering the wormhole translating into equal velocity when he emerged. He'd braced himself for bruising, ready to roll out of the way as quickly as possible.
But the event horizon spat him out, and he came catapulting through the air in a flail of arms and legs, with just enough blurred time to realize that he was falling, falling, plunging down onto --
He never does remember hitting the ramp, but later, Daniel learned that his helmet saved his life.
*
End notes: Why was Jack wearing his baseball cap in Solitudes when Sam and Daniel were wearing helmets? Moebius!Jack never answered the question, either...
H is for Helmet
The ripples of the event horizon turned to shreds and vanished, leaving SG-1 standing on an alien planet with only the MALP for company.
"Let's get moving," Jack said briskly. "Teal'c and I will take the perimeter." He shot Daniel a pointed look. "And then the people with the helmets can go study the ruins."
"It's not as if we go on these missions fully equipped," Daniel grumbled, even as he stepped to the DHD and began studying the various symbols. "We'd need complete field packs if we really worried about long-term off-world survival."
"It's pretty amazing what we can fit into our pockets," Sam offered, stopping a pace away to watch over his shoulder. "And we can certainly move faster without so much equipment slowing us down."
"Oh, yeah, no complaints there." Daniel ran a finger down the curve of the DHD, stopping at one particular symbol. "Here we are. The point of origin."
Sam nodded, committing it to memory.
"But that just proves my point," Daniel continued, unwilling to fully drop the argument he'd begun with Jack while they were still on Earth. "If we have to pare down our equipment to a minimum to balance ease of movement with necessary supplies, I accept that. If we tailor our supplies to each particular mission, that's only good, common sense. But if Jack insisted that you and I wear helmets, what's his excuse for wearing his baseball cap instead?"
Sam's facial expression clearly showed she was trying not to laugh. "He doesn't want helmet hair?" she offered.
Daniel's own mouth quirked into a smile despite himself.
"Anyway, I can't figure out why it bothers you so much." Sam fell into step next to Daniel, walking toward the tumbled buildings half a klick away. "Unless you're worried about your lovely locks, it's no big deal to wear it."
"No, it's not," Daniel admitted easily enough. "It's just the hypocrisy that annoys me, I guess."
"There are worse things." Sam bumped shoulders with him companionably.
Daniel was opening his mouth to agree with her when the first attack seemed to come out of nowhere. A high-pitched whine, the scream of the air ripping itself apart, and a bright green light smashed into the ground a dozen feet away to the left.
Daniel, stunned, felt the impact of Sam's weight bearing him down to the ground, her instinct to protect the team's civilian clearly jolting her out of her shock at the unexpected attack. Then there was another burst of fire, from an entirely different direction, and then another, and another...
They were surrounded.
"Back to Earth!" Jack shouted, heading towards them at a dead run. He ducked his head involuntarily as another blast boomed directly above them. "Daniel, dial us up!"
Teal'c was suddenly there, hauling Daniel to his feet with effortless strength. "Go, Daniel Jackson," he ordered, and then turned to face their unknown enemy and provide cover fire.
Daniel took a gulping breath and bolted back to the DHD. This was always the moment of absolute trust for Daniel, when he put his faith in Jack and Teal'c and Sam, ignoring death roaring overhead while he worked to get them back to safety. He turned his back on the spitting bolts of flame, trying not to flinch or cringe or duck his head or do anything else that might distract him from the crucial task of dialing home.
Auriga. Cetus. Centaurus. Cancer. Scutum. Eridanus...
A screaming blast of green energy buried itself in the ground not three feet away. Daniel felt gravel bouncing off his helmet, more shards peppering his right shoulder. He ignored it, hand reaching out to slap the point of origin he'd identified only minutes before.
Another blast, a few inches closer, and Daniel forced himself to ignore that too as he slammed down on the DHD's central globe.
Another roar of energy, but this was the welcome blue of the activating event horizon, lashing outward in a burst of foaming entropy before it settled back into cool, welcoming ripples. Daniel almost fumbled the GDO, but his fingers skipped nimbly on the buttons, typing the crucial code to unlock Earth's back door.
"Green!" he hollered, hoping the others would get the message over the thunderous assault of their assailants.
"Go!" came the faint reply, and Jack must have been screaming at the top of his lungs for Daniel to hear him. "Teal'c, watch his six!"
No time to look backward; Daniel simply pumped his elbows and ran full-tilt towards the Stargate, trusting that Teal'c was right behind him. He took the four steps up to the platform in a single leap, even as he heard the distinctive concussion of Teal'c firing his staff weapon over and over again. He knew that Sam and Jack, too, would be running forward, ready to hurl themselves through the event horizon to the safety of Earth.
A new percussive roar seemed to white out all other sound, and out of the corner of his eye, Daniel glimpsed a massive bolt of green fire splash directly against the Stargate. Half-blinded and already somewhere on the other side of sheer terror, he ignored the drowning surge of fresh dread and dived straight into the active wormhole....
Late nights in the labs, during coffee or chocolate breaks, he and Sam had often speculated about Stargate travel. She had always insisted that a person couldn't actually think while going through the Stargate; wormhole physics, as far as they could understand, meant that those few seconds of other-spatial travel would be perceived as instantaneous. He'd countered with his own memories of flashes of sensations, of twisted confusion, of something other than here-then-there. It might simply be his brain trying to interpret the impossible, as Sam had once suggested, but Daniel still wondered.
Whether it was actual perception or misfiring brain synapses now, Daniel couldn't tell, but his mind was screaming at him that this wasn't normal, this wasn't right, this was --
He'd expected to come half-flying through the Stargate, landing sprawling on the metal grate of the ramp, his kinetic speed upon entering the wormhole translating into equal velocity when he emerged. He'd braced himself for bruising, ready to roll out of the way as quickly as possible.
But the event horizon spat him out, and he came catapulting through the air in a flail of arms and legs, with just enough blurred time to realize that he was falling, falling, plunging down onto --
He never does remember hitting the ramp, but later, Daniel learned that his helmet saved his life.
*
End notes: Why was Jack wearing his baseball cap in Solitudes when Sam and Daniel were wearing helmets? Moebius!Jack never answered the question, either...
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