Fig Newton's SG-1 Gen Recs

Rec Category: Gen

Pairing: none
Categories: gen, Teal’c, Jack O’Neill, Teal’c and Jack friendship, episode related, drama, character study
Warnings: intense pain, by personal choice
Author on LJ: dknightshade
Author's Website: Knightshade's Garden
Link: Golden

Why This Must Be Read: Knightshade presents us with an interesting look at the run-up to 2010 in the original timeline, as Teal’c chooses to undergo a medical procedure under the auspices of the Aschen.

Filled with stoicism, symbolism, and the very essence of Teal’c, Golden also gives us Jack, despite his unhappiness and suspicions, coming to stand at Teal’c’s side in support. There’s the bond of intense friendship, and consequences of choice – that of pain, that of allies, and that of selecting one’s future, when the choices of the present leave that future echoing and empty.

I love a good story that makes the reader think. For all its brevity, Golden does that in spades.
 

Rec Category: Teamy goodness

Pairing: see below
Categories: team, friendship, futurefic, Samantha Carter, Daniel Jackson, Teal’c, Jack O’Neill, Vala, Cameron Mitchell, Cassie
Warnings: canon character deaths (mostly off-screen, and of old age)
Author on LJ: niamaea
Author's Website: unknown
Link: A Million Years Into the Sky

Why This Must Be Read: Full disclaimer: I got to beta this. Lucky, lucky me. :)

Niamaea is one of the founders of sg1_ever_after, a relatively new community about giving SG-1 happy endings. This amazing fic offers a heartbreakingly beautiful look at that happy ending, as Niamaea provides us with a universe that cares for her children and the long, gentle journey that the members of SG-1 take, one by one, to get there.

The first part of the story is told from Sam’s POV; the second, from Teal’c’s, in one of the most stunning characterizations I’ve ever seen for our beloved Jaffa. The entire fic is chock-full of fantastic insights: Sam’s epiphany into how Jack and Daniel’s personalities complete one another. The team’s careful manipulations to ensure that Daniel is “remembered to history for his life,” and not how he died, because that’s what he would have wanted most. Teal’c watching, from the perspective of his longer lifespan, as one by one, his teammates slip away – complete, and in peace. (And Teal’c’s choice for his third grandchild’s name brought tears to my eyes.) 

While I would strongly call this fic gen, I didn’t add that to the categories, because it does include some mention of pairings peripherally – Ry’ac and Ka’ryn, for example. And Sam’s marriage to a teammate. But while the pairings are there, they are not the main import of the story – the quiet future, and the universe’s kindness, are what really matter. 

“Shal’kek nem’ron,” he says.

Daniel shakes his head and corrects him. “You lived free, Teal’c.”

It was difficult to choose a snippet for this, as much of the story is snapshots of events that span decades of time. I know this rec is longer than usual, but this story richly deserves it. Go read it, slowly, and savor.