I just discovered The Pentangular Gate and have decided that I love it to death! I've always loved fic prompts, but these are especially fun to write and read. I did two of them this round:
Five missions Jacob/Selmak went on that he never told Sam about
1. When they captured Quetesh. He knew how much it meant for Sam that Daniel had never saved Sha're and how he hoped to save Sarah, and he didn't want her to have false hopes. Quetesh had only gone with a fight, leaving her host pain-wracked and catatonic for days. She had recovered eventually, but with such a fierce repression and rebellion that the Tok'ra did not know how to help her, and so left her on her homeworld. It was both success and failure, and Jacob didn't want to burden Sam with such thoughts, especially when he knew that Daniel might find out.
2. His first assassination. Capturing Goa'ulds was only a priority when there were no Jaffa to deal with, and though he knew that his Sam understood that he had killed, he didn't feel she needed to know that her dad could cold-bloodedly slit a throat and leave without remorse. No one needed to know that about their dad.
3. The mission where an SG team got caught in the crossfire. He and Selmak had been planting the seeds of chaos, but the Jaffa Rebellion acted too quickly and struck when their gods were scheduled to return through the Chappa'ai. Crouching in the forest near the gate, Jacob watched in aching horror as the green BDUs scorched and burned before the Jaffa realized what they were doing-and he knew that it was his actions that led to their death.
4. The destruction of a Goa'uld science base that was researching the power of a symbiote over the host. While attempting to increase their control, the Goa'uld had also found a chemical that inhibited host control. The Tok'ra had decreed that the benefits of this chemical as a weapon did not exceed the costs of some Goa'uld having permanent control over their host. The flames burned high above the rubble, reflecting in Jacob's eyes as he realized how his daughter, the spokesperson of forward progress in science, would worry and obsess over the possibilities that he just destroyed.
5. When he found the remnant of the Tollan under Goa'uld control. Their planet devastated, the common people removed to slave worlds, Jacob found only the remains of their higher government in chains, tortured into near oblivion. He had never seen Narim before, but the man curled in a childlike pose, rocking back and forth with wide eyes, shaking constantly while murmuring “Samantha” over and over, was enough evidence for him. The Tok'ra had no cure for the madness that Goa'uld could inflict, and as Jacob mercifully ended the tormented life of one of the bravest of the Tollan, he vowed that Sam should never know.
Five ways members of SG-1 become parents
1. The ceremony on P23-489 was in the sacred tongue, and Daniel had assumed that when SG-1 agreed to be Fathers of the Pilois, it meant that they would be the planet’s personal protectors—after all, the people called themselves the Piloi. But when young women came forward to him and Cam and Teal’c bearing small children and blessing him for his kindness to them, he realized with a terrified guilt that “Lost Children” was the direct translation of this people’s name, and that it meant more in their culture than a metaphor for their removal from the Tau’ri by the Goa’uld. Suddenly there was confusion as Daniel tried to explain, and each moment added to their discomfort as the single mothers hung their blushing faces and the elders tried to tell SG-1 that the ceremony was irreversible. Cam and Vala played with the adorable bronze-skinned toddlers while Sam and Teal’c tried to comfort the mothers who had longed for fathers to give their children full lives, and Daniel had to satisfy the leader of the tribe.
When SG-1 returned home, they all thought that Daniel had arranged for the SGC to send help to the children—Daniel kept secret from all but Landry that the only arrangement that satisfied all parties had been for Daniel to adopt all three children and vow to visit them every two weeks. It was the least he could do for his team, since it had been his mistake to cause the problem. But they should never know. And as time went on, he spent more and more of his days off among the Piloi, finding peace of heart playing with the dark-haired and dark-eyed youngsters who would know no other father figure than him.
2 Aliens made them do it, but Sam didn’t protest. All of them had to partake in the fertility ritual if they wanted to leave alive, and after Daniel and Vala grudgingly agreed that doing it with each other would be the lesser of two evils, and once Teal’c and Cam had blushingly found partners who understood their plight and would let them off easy, Sam was left alone. She had made the mistake of eating the fertility fruit at the banquet, but was now wondering if she should tempt fate. It had been so long, and she had recently come to realize that she was nearing the age at which women lost the ability to bear children—and now, slightly intoxicated and hormonally at a disadvantage for rational decision-making, her heart ached for one.
A man approached her with a gentle apologetic smile, assuring her that though their leader was insistent, all participation should be at the comfort level she determined. He was not bad looking, with salt-and-pepper hair and deep brown eyes, and so she flung her last inhibition to the wind. Her duty to the SGC was no longer of urgent importance without the Ori around, and so if the fates demanded it, she would enjoy this night with no regrets. They never returned to that planet, and so she never saw the father of her child again. SG-1 was shocked the next day, and those back home were no less so, but Sam secretly felt like they deserved it after underestimating her daring side. And nine months later, having retired to Area 51 permanently, Sam welcomed a bald red-faced daughter into the world—and thought her the most perfect thing that had ever happened to her.
3 Daniel finally died, permanently, and Vala realized he wasn’t all that was holding her to the SGC. But none of the others could help her with her grief when they could barely control their own, and so she did what had always worked in the past—grabbed a ship and flew away. Granted, this time she didn’t steal it, and she knew where she was going, but the change was enough. The Odyssey had occasionally checked in on the previously Ori-run galaxy, and Vala had been proud to hear that Tomin was making progress. She hadn’t told anyone that she didn’t intend to immediately return to the Milky Way, but when she told the Odyssey’s captain that he needn’t wait around for her, he didn’t seem surprised. Showing up on Tomin’s doorstep, a well-trained hard exterior covering up her inner torment for all eyes, she did not know what to expect. But when he opened the door, a little more grey, a few more lines in his face, something in her eyes must have given away how desperate she was to have someone sturdy to lean on, and he immediately and silently wrapped her in a warm embrace. After a warm cup of tea and a cathartic cry on a comforting shoulder, they talked together, and he explained that his own wife had died recently after bearing their third child. They sat in silence until Vala looked up into his face. Tomin no longer wanted her, but he loved her no less, just differently—and she now knew that of all those she loved, he was the one she would never ever doubt to take care of her. “Do you need a mother for them?” she asked in a voice husky from previous tears. Tomin nodded, and so it was. They didn’t marry or live as man and wife, but for all intents and purposes, Vala Mal Doran was now the mother of three children. It wasn’t that she wanted them, but if staying away from all that reminded her of Daniel meant living with a real family, she didn’t mind. And besides the fact that she eventually learned to care for them, Tomin’s children helped her forget Adria, helped her forget the mistakes she had made with her.
4 When Teal’c heard that he would be a grandfather, Jack had stopped by the base for a visit. Congratulations were shared, and then the two men sat silently. Sam and Daniel were off on some political emergency mission, leaving no one to move the quietest members that SG-1 had to speech, until Teal’c spoke. He shared how clearly he remembered Ry’ac’s birth though it had now been seventy-five years in his mind, even if only twenty-five in the normal world. Jack answered quietly, saying that Charlie’s birth was equally crystal, including how irately Sara demanded that he stay out of the way, and how he worried that he would even be allowed to see his son. But birth brought catharsis, and all seemed forgotten as Jack tentatively asked to enter, and was allowed in with a huge tired smile. Teal’c smiled, noting that in his case, he had been Drey’auc’s rock of support through the difficult labor. “We are so old, T,” said Jack. Teal’c nodded, and the only parents to have been on SG-1 shared a special look that recognized how far their young comrades had to go to catch up.
5 They finally made it to Langara, but not before Jonas was killed. As all who knew him felt their fear become terrible reality, the leader of the Langarans was surprisingly cooperative. “We have been devastated by the Ori, and are now barely a shadow of our former selves,” she said. “Jonas Quinn brought us together to fight for our freedom, even though we did not think we deserved it after giving up our free will. In all history books, he shall be remembered as the Father of the New Langarans.”
“As it should be,” said Teal’c solemnly.
“I’ll bet Jonas is smiling,” said Sam with a lump in her throat. “It’s his first time being father of a new nation.”
Five missions Jacob/Selmak went on that he never told Sam about
1. When they captured Quetesh. He knew how much it meant for Sam that Daniel had never saved Sha're and how he hoped to save Sarah, and he didn't want her to have false hopes. Quetesh had only gone with a fight, leaving her host pain-wracked and catatonic for days. She had recovered eventually, but with such a fierce repression and rebellion that the Tok'ra did not know how to help her, and so left her on her homeworld. It was both success and failure, and Jacob didn't want to burden Sam with such thoughts, especially when he knew that Daniel might find out.
2. His first assassination. Capturing Goa'ulds was only a priority when there were no Jaffa to deal with, and though he knew that his Sam understood that he had killed, he didn't feel she needed to know that her dad could cold-bloodedly slit a throat and leave without remorse. No one needed to know that about their dad.
3. The mission where an SG team got caught in the crossfire. He and Selmak had been planting the seeds of chaos, but the Jaffa Rebellion acted too quickly and struck when their gods were scheduled to return through the Chappa'ai. Crouching in the forest near the gate, Jacob watched in aching horror as the green BDUs scorched and burned before the Jaffa realized what they were doing-and he knew that it was his actions that led to their death.
4. The destruction of a Goa'uld science base that was researching the power of a symbiote over the host. While attempting to increase their control, the Goa'uld had also found a chemical that inhibited host control. The Tok'ra had decreed that the benefits of this chemical as a weapon did not exceed the costs of some Goa'uld having permanent control over their host. The flames burned high above the rubble, reflecting in Jacob's eyes as he realized how his daughter, the spokesperson of forward progress in science, would worry and obsess over the possibilities that he just destroyed.
5. When he found the remnant of the Tollan under Goa'uld control. Their planet devastated, the common people removed to slave worlds, Jacob found only the remains of their higher government in chains, tortured into near oblivion. He had never seen Narim before, but the man curled in a childlike pose, rocking back and forth with wide eyes, shaking constantly while murmuring “Samantha” over and over, was enough evidence for him. The Tok'ra had no cure for the madness that Goa'uld could inflict, and as Jacob mercifully ended the tormented life of one of the bravest of the Tollan, he vowed that Sam should never know.
Five ways members of SG-1 become parents
1. The ceremony on P23-489 was in the sacred tongue, and Daniel had assumed that when SG-1 agreed to be Fathers of the Pilois, it meant that they would be the planet’s personal protectors—after all, the people called themselves the Piloi. But when young women came forward to him and Cam and Teal’c bearing small children and blessing him for his kindness to them, he realized with a terrified guilt that “Lost Children” was the direct translation of this people’s name, and that it meant more in their culture than a metaphor for their removal from the Tau’ri by the Goa’uld. Suddenly there was confusion as Daniel tried to explain, and each moment added to their discomfort as the single mothers hung their blushing faces and the elders tried to tell SG-1 that the ceremony was irreversible. Cam and Vala played with the adorable bronze-skinned toddlers while Sam and Teal’c tried to comfort the mothers who had longed for fathers to give their children full lives, and Daniel had to satisfy the leader of the tribe.
When SG-1 returned home, they all thought that Daniel had arranged for the SGC to send help to the children—Daniel kept secret from all but Landry that the only arrangement that satisfied all parties had been for Daniel to adopt all three children and vow to visit them every two weeks. It was the least he could do for his team, since it had been his mistake to cause the problem. But they should never know. And as time went on, he spent more and more of his days off among the Piloi, finding peace of heart playing with the dark-haired and dark-eyed youngsters who would know no other father figure than him.
2 Aliens made them do it, but Sam didn’t protest. All of them had to partake in the fertility ritual if they wanted to leave alive, and after Daniel and Vala grudgingly agreed that doing it with each other would be the lesser of two evils, and once Teal’c and Cam had blushingly found partners who understood their plight and would let them off easy, Sam was left alone. She had made the mistake of eating the fertility fruit at the banquet, but was now wondering if she should tempt fate. It had been so long, and she had recently come to realize that she was nearing the age at which women lost the ability to bear children—and now, slightly intoxicated and hormonally at a disadvantage for rational decision-making, her heart ached for one.
A man approached her with a gentle apologetic smile, assuring her that though their leader was insistent, all participation should be at the comfort level she determined. He was not bad looking, with salt-and-pepper hair and deep brown eyes, and so she flung her last inhibition to the wind. Her duty to the SGC was no longer of urgent importance without the Ori around, and so if the fates demanded it, she would enjoy this night with no regrets. They never returned to that planet, and so she never saw the father of her child again. SG-1 was shocked the next day, and those back home were no less so, but Sam secretly felt like they deserved it after underestimating her daring side. And nine months later, having retired to Area 51 permanently, Sam welcomed a bald red-faced daughter into the world—and thought her the most perfect thing that had ever happened to her.
3 Daniel finally died, permanently, and Vala realized he wasn’t all that was holding her to the SGC. But none of the others could help her with her grief when they could barely control their own, and so she did what had always worked in the past—grabbed a ship and flew away. Granted, this time she didn’t steal it, and she knew where she was going, but the change was enough. The Odyssey had occasionally checked in on the previously Ori-run galaxy, and Vala had been proud to hear that Tomin was making progress. She hadn’t told anyone that she didn’t intend to immediately return to the Milky Way, but when she told the Odyssey’s captain that he needn’t wait around for her, he didn’t seem surprised. Showing up on Tomin’s doorstep, a well-trained hard exterior covering up her inner torment for all eyes, she did not know what to expect. But when he opened the door, a little more grey, a few more lines in his face, something in her eyes must have given away how desperate she was to have someone sturdy to lean on, and he immediately and silently wrapped her in a warm embrace. After a warm cup of tea and a cathartic cry on a comforting shoulder, they talked together, and he explained that his own wife had died recently after bearing their third child. They sat in silence until Vala looked up into his face. Tomin no longer wanted her, but he loved her no less, just differently—and she now knew that of all those she loved, he was the one she would never ever doubt to take care of her. “Do you need a mother for them?” she asked in a voice husky from previous tears. Tomin nodded, and so it was. They didn’t marry or live as man and wife, but for all intents and purposes, Vala Mal Doran was now the mother of three children. It wasn’t that she wanted them, but if staying away from all that reminded her of Daniel meant living with a real family, she didn’t mind. And besides the fact that she eventually learned to care for them, Tomin’s children helped her forget Adria, helped her forget the mistakes she had made with her.
4 When Teal’c heard that he would be a grandfather, Jack had stopped by the base for a visit. Congratulations were shared, and then the two men sat silently. Sam and Daniel were off on some political emergency mission, leaving no one to move the quietest members that SG-1 had to speech, until Teal’c spoke. He shared how clearly he remembered Ry’ac’s birth though it had now been seventy-five years in his mind, even if only twenty-five in the normal world. Jack answered quietly, saying that Charlie’s birth was equally crystal, including how irately Sara demanded that he stay out of the way, and how he worried that he would even be allowed to see his son. But birth brought catharsis, and all seemed forgotten as Jack tentatively asked to enter, and was allowed in with a huge tired smile. Teal’c smiled, noting that in his case, he had been Drey’auc’s rock of support through the difficult labor. “We are so old, T,” said Jack. Teal’c nodded, and the only parents to have been on SG-1 shared a special look that recognized how far their young comrades had to go to catch up.
5 They finally made it to Langara, but not before Jonas was killed. As all who knew him felt their fear become terrible reality, the leader of the Langarans was surprisingly cooperative. “We have been devastated by the Ori, and are now barely a shadow of our former selves,” she said. “Jonas Quinn brought us together to fight for our freedom, even though we did not think we deserved it after giving up our free will. In all history books, he shall be remembered as the Father of the New Langarans.”
“As it should be,” said Teal’c solemnly.
“I’ll bet Jonas is smiling,” said Sam with a lump in her throat. “It’s his first time being father of a new nation.”
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