Training Day, by Random (PG-13)

[figs_sg1_rec]

Rec Category: Teamy goodness

Pairing: none
Categories: team, gen, Daniel Jackson, Jack O'Neill, Samantha Carter, Teal'c, drama, angst, episode related
Warnings: violence, Daniel-whumping
Author on LJ: randomfreshink
Author's Website:
Link: currently offline

Why This Must Be Read: It's a brand new Random fic chock-full of teamy goodness and stellar characterization! Isn't that enough of a reason?

[In the interests of full disclosure, I should mention that I had the great pleasure of acting as Random's beta for this fic. Mind you, being Random's beta basically means getting to read really good stories before everyone else…]

In the wake of SG-1's rescue from Hathor in Into the Fire, civilians are required to undergo training under Makepeace's auspices. Sam and Teal'c are also invited to go along for some "team-building," and Jack, anxious about the inevitable clashes between Daniel and the Marines, manages to come along as "observer." He's sure that this is a really bad idea, but it can't be too disastrous… or can it?

There's Daniel's stubborn passive agressiveness against what he sees as utter stupidity, contrasted by Teal'c's frustration that "If there is to be no real danger, O'Neill, then what is the value in this?" We get Sam struggling to keep within the confines of military rank, even as she chafes at being forced to obey the orders of someone she knows is making a bad mistake. And Jack's running silent commentary says as much about him as it does about the events he witnesses…

And that's only the beginning, before the real drama begins. Oops – didn't anyone mention the natives on the "uninhabited" planet, not to mention the visitors through the Stargate?

By the end of this long, satisfying story, we've met a fascinating original character; we've witnessed Daniel in action as soldier, archeologist, diplomat, and peacemaker; we've seen Teal'c in grand First Prime mode as well as Teal'c among the Tauri; we've gotten Captain Carter at her absolute best; and we've been treated to Jack O'Neill as only Random can write him. Everyone shines in Training Day. Absolutely wonderful teamy goodness!

(There are two other civilians involved besides Daniel, by the way. Rothman is easy to spot, but identifying the third civilian made me splutter coffee all over my keyboard. Heh.)

Locals on their backsides, Jaffa hogging the Stargate, and two of his team smack in the middle. Why did he let Daniel talk him into these things? Oh, yeah--cause no one had any better ideas. Just like back when Daniel had sworn Apophis was coming to wipe out everyone because he'd seen it happen in another reality.

Hi-ho, and here we go.

Jack had said he'd feel stupid back then if they didn't check out if this reality was anything like the other one. Turned out it was. And the ride had been as wild as the idea that everyone had died in a different version of their lives. Jack didn't want to think about that--it made his head hurt, like brain freeze from too much ice cream.

But here they were again, smack in the middle of enemy lines--just like then. Just like with last time with Hathor, too. Only he wasn't making the same mistakes.

On Apophis' ship, he'd tried to keep Daniel to the rear, keep him out of close quarters fighting with too many shots flying. He'd set Daniel to watch their backs, and Daniel had--took out three Jaffa and damn near died from yet another staff weapons blast.

That's where the nightmares came from.

From hearing Daniel shout for help, hearing it all going down wrong, knowing it was his fault for putting the man there.

He still wanted civilians kept back from front lines--they had no business there. That's what his training told him. But he'd seen how well that had worked with Hathor, too, when he'd seen Makepeace on his knees next to Daniel and not safe through the 'gate. And Hathor's main man standing behind Daniel, ready to shoot Daniel in the back of his head.

So overall, it just seemed a better idea to stuff Daniel into the middle of things, where the guy wanted to be anyway and where Jack could keep an eye on him. Which put Daniel waltzing out with a Beretta in his hand and Teal'c at his side to face a squad of Jaffa.

This was so not a good idea.

And they were so not training Daniel out here. They never had been. The man was training all of them. He'd even talked Makepeace over to his way of thinking, although Jack was guessing that Makepeace made this as diversion tactics only. He didn't think Daniel wouldn't pull it off.

Jack wasn't so sure.

He didn't see the leap from marks on a knife to maybe knowing a language these people might speak--that was typical Daniel. Just skip past everything to a conclusion, and then insist he was right. No wonder the man had trashed his academic career. That lecture hall Daniel had once stepped into with his pyramid ideas must have had more than a few folks that Daniel had left humiliated in the dust with this kind of razzle-dazzle; a bunch of academic rivals gunning for Daniel because he'd waltzed over their hard work as if it was nothing.

But Jack hoped this wasn't one of those cases where Daniel almost knew what he was saying and really didn't.

Daniel was shouting now, the words nothing familiar. Maybe faintly Irish sounding, but the only thing Jack knew about his ancestors' homeland was they made a decent beer. Daniel kept up with his words, long pauses in there as he searched for a translation. He hadn't stepped out of the woods yet, but the shouting put a pause on the challenge.

The Jaffa stood there gawking, and no arrows sailed out at anyone. Then Daniel and Teal'c stepped into the open.