Shooting the Breeze
Jul. 9th, 2011 07:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
stringertheoryTitle: Shooting the Breeze
Rating: PG
Fandom: Stargate SG-1
Characters: Cameron Mitchell, Teal'c
Word Count: 3136
Categories: humor, friendship
Spoilers/Warnings: Three parts with no decisive setting within the series, other than they begin after "Collateral Damage". [If anyone is interested, I wrote them with these rough parameters in mind: Part one is set in S9 shortly after "Collateral Damage". Part two is S10, sometime before "Company of Thieves". Part three takes place any time post "Talion".]
Summary: Written for the![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
sg1friendathon: "Cam, Teal'c. Spending downtime off world."
P3W-989 was a prime spot of galactic real estate containing lush semi-tropical rainforests, a few well-preserved ruins, and not a soul around for a few thousand light years in any direction.
Cam was particularly fond of that last selling point. After the past few months, it would be nice to have a quiet, safe, explore-and-report mission.
From what the UAV had shown, most of the planet's ruins happened to be near the gate, ranged around what had once been an impressive courtyard. Or so Jackson claimed. Over time nature had begun to reclaim the area and what SG-1 found more closely resembled an overgrown garden than the open gathering space Jackson had described it as. Jackson himself had scurried off almost before the wormhole closed behind them, pointing across the way at the largest set of ruins and murmuring something about investigating the temple complex. Sam tagged along after him, following the energy readings she was picking up from the same general area.
Cam and Teal'c stayed behind. From the elevated platform on which the gate stood, they could keep an eye on the wonder twins as well as the surrounding area. There wasn't much to keep watch on, though, given that the planet was uninhabited. And, if the gate area was anything to go by, no one had visited in quite some time.
Just the same, Teal'c took up position at one of the near corners of the dais, staff weapon at his side. He surveyed the area wordlessly, glancing over every few minutes to where the tops of Sam and Jackson's heads just were visible above the foliage. After a quick glance around, Cam lowered himself onto the steps to the platform and settled in to wait.
He pulled out his field binoculars and killed a few minutes scanning the area up to the treeline, looking for anything of interest. As far as he could see, it was nothing but rainforest and ruins. With a sigh, he shoved the binoculars back in his bag. He felt twitchy just sitting around, so he began a methodical inventory of the supplies in his tac vest. Fifteen minutes later, a cramp in his calf alerted him to the fact that he had been unconsciously bouncing his leg up and down. Standing stiffly, Cam walked down to the courtyard, pacing back and forth in front of the platform. Then he walked out toward the ruins for a few meters, stopping to inspect some of the plants. He was no botanist, but some of the flora looked a bit predatory, so he retraced his steps carefully and stuck to the open area in front of the gate. He could feel Teal'c's eyes on him as he returned to pacing.
“Is there a problem, Colonel Mitchell?”
Cam glanced up to where Teal'c was silhouetted against the sun.
“Nah, I'm just restless.” He shifted his weight from one foot to the other and fiddled with the strap of his P90. “Hey, you want to spar a bit?” He jerked a thumb over his shoulder in the direction of the ruins. “I can tell by the excited chatter that Sam and Jackson are going to be a while yet and I'm a little bored.”
“Would sparring be wise?” Teal'c asked as he descended the stairs.
“Yeah,” Cam said, peeling off his gun and vest. “There's nobody else here; we can make a little noise.”
Teal'c quirked an eyebrow. “I meant for you.”
Cam pulled up short in unhooking his holster to give Teal'c a look. “Yeah,” he said after a moment. “I'll be fine. C'mon, I need to move around a bit.”
Teal'c nodded in assent and proceeded to divest himself of unnecessary equipment. Their gear in neat piles, the two moved into the center of the open area and stood facing one another. As Teal'c appeared perfectly willing to wait, Cam made the first move, coming in low with a punch to the abdomen. Teal'c easily dodged the move and thwacked him between the shoulder blades for good measure. Recovering quickly, Cam responded with a fake right, a left jab, and a swift kick from his right leg, all of which Teal'c deflected. Then Cam, restless energy getting the better of him, moved too quickly into what was, in retrospect, too obvious an opening. He found himself staring up at the sky, knocked flat on his back by a sneaky sweep of the legs he hadn't even seen coming.
Teal'c appeared in his field of view, expression bland as he offered Cam a hand up. Cam clasped the proffered hand and hefted himself to his feet. Brushing off his pants and rolling his shoulders, he set his feet for another go.
“Again,” he said.
They continued on for some time, fighting their way back and forth across the courtyard. Teal'c decidedly owned the matches, though Cam got in a few good licks as well, much to his pleasure and Teal'c's apparent surprise. It wasn't often that he had been able to get one up on Teal'c during their sparring sessions; he had considerably improved. Sodan training could do that for you, he mused. Still, each session—however long it lasted—inevitably ended with Cam on the ground and Teal'c helping him back up again.
After the fifth time, there was humor in Teal'c's eyes as he stretched out a hand and calmly intoned, “Again, Colonel Mitchell?”
Cam released a huff of laughter as Teal'c hauled him to his feet.
“Nope,” he said, giving Teal'c a clap on the shoulder and heading over to where they had left their gear. “I think I'm good with getting my ass kicked for the day.”
“Have you found your center again?”
That brought him up short and Cam looked to Teal'c in surprise. Teal'c stared serenely back at him. Cam contemplated the question, taking a deep breath and realizing that he did feel steadier, more relaxed. He had just wanted to burn off some extra energy; instead, Teal'c had managed to turn their sparring match into some sort of therapy session. He cut Teal'c a look out of the corner of his eye and shook his head in amusement.
“Yeah,” he said, pulling on his vest. “I'm better.”
Teal'c nodded and plucked his staff weapon off the ground. “In that case,” he said with the hint of a smirk, “perhaps we should check on Daniel Jackson and Colonel Carter?”
“Good plan.” Cam clipped his gun back to its holster and motioned for Teal'c to take point. “Lead the way.”
-00000-
Cam wasn't particularly fond of caves, but he did like the ocean, so he figured their time on P7C-120 balanced out.
They were in a shallow cave on a steep cliff above an ocean of deep blue-green. At least that was the color it had been during the day. As they were currently halfway through the planet's eleven-hour night, he couldn't actually see the ocean, but the roar of the surf rose to where they were camped out in the cave's mouth. Out across the water, dual full moons slowly made their way across the horizon.
They had come to the planet on a routine meet-and-greet, but when the village elders mentioned a powerful device used by the gods of old and Sam's eyes had lit up like a kid on Christmas morning, Cam knew they were in for a longer slog. The mission was expanded to a search-and-recover, supplies were sent from the SGC, the team loaded up, and they set out in search of the device. Finding the thing had been half the battle. The locals had pointed out the general location of the device to them. On a map. At a point nearly eight klicks from the nearest village, and closer to eleven from where they were at the gate. It had been a long trek through a pretty rough landscape, but from the way Jackson and Sam had reacted upon seeing the device, the field trip was apparently worth the work. And Cam had to admit that the cave had a very nice view.
Jackson and Sam were near the back of the cave, working on the device. Jackson was translating, Sam was tinkering, and Vala was at turns helping and hindering their progress. Cam wasn't entirely sure what the device was for—something to do with shields and energy waves, if he had heard Sam correctly—so he joined Teal'c at the cave entrance and let the others get on with it.
He took a deep breath as he lowered himself to the ground beside Teal'c.
“Ah, salty sea air,” he said. “I love it.”
“It is pleasantly refreshing,” Teal'c agreed, “and the sound of the tide most soothing.”
From behind them rose the familiar refrain of a Jackson and Vala spat.
“Very,” Cam agreed.
As Sam restored the peace with a terse word, Cam rifled in one of his vest pockets and produced a pack of cards. He waved them in Teal'c's direction.
“Up for a little poker?” he asked.
Teal'c appeared to contemplate the offer for a moment before shifting around to face Cam.
“With what shall we bet?” he inquired.
Cam glanced around and spotted the small pebbles lining the way into the cave. Scooping up a double handful, he deposited the pile between him and Teal'c.
“How about these?”
Teal'c scrutinized the pile and nodded. “These will suffice. Should we separate them out? They appear to mostly be of light and dark varieties.”
“Sure,” Cam said, reaching over to grab another scoop.
Between them, they made short work of the sorting and before too long they each had two small piles of pebbles beside them, one light and one dark. After a short debate, they had agreed to give them values of five and ten dollars each, respectively. Cam then shuffled the deck and dealt the hands.
They were both content to play in near silence, the crashing waves and the sound of their teammates' working enough noise for the confined space. Cam found that Teal'c played his hands wisely and bet boldly and, as far as Cam could see, had absolutely no tell. It also didn't hurt that Teal'c had some one hundred years or so of practice at maintaining a stoic facade. Cam teasingly called him on cheating for that, but Teal'c just smiled enigmatically.
Numerous hands and nearly two hours later, Cam's pebble pile was dangerously low.
“I believe we should refrain from any further hands,” Teal'c advised gravely as he collected the cards. “By my calculations, you currently owe me $560, and your source of betting funds is almost non-existent.”
Cam waved him off. “That's alright,” he said, leaning over to snag a few more pebbles from the cave mouth. “I'm learning to read you.”
Teal'c raised an eyebrow. “I do not think that your ability to 'read me' is helping you in your current situation.”
“Maybe not,” Cam said, “but it'll help me everywhere else.”
He glanced up and met Teal'c's eyes. Teal'c held the look for a moment and slowly bowed his head, his gaze measuring. Then he held out the deck.
“It is your deal, Colonel Mitchell.”
-00000-
His team was in an unusually good mood, no doubt thanks to their current mission.
P4M-652 was blessed with a practically untouched remnant of middle-period Incan civilization (or so Jackson had said) as well as having the distinction of being one of the few—if only—places in the galaxy where one could study the effects of a black hole on solar radiation as it passed through a planet's atmosphere (or so Sam had told him). Landry had given them an exceptionally gracious time frame of three days for the expedition, but neither Jackson nor Sam appeared willing to waste a second. Shortly after they struck camp on a low hill, Sam meandered off into grassy plain that opened on one side of the camp, taking the loaded-down FRED with her.
As she set up her monitoring equipment, Jackson and Vala prepared for their encounter with the natives. Citing the pristine nature of the planet's civilization and the length of time they would be spending with the locals, Jackson had brought what he considered more appropriate attire for their interactions. He and Vala changed into the native gear—an amalgamation of what Jackson said the Incas from Earth had worn and the adaptations he had spotted amongst their descendants here, as per the MALP report.
After a final check to make sure Vala had her outfit on correctly and that their less-than-native equipment was securely hidden under their clothing, Jackson and Vala trooped off in the direction of the nearest settlement. Cam threw a warning to be careful at their retreating backs, Vala giving him a grin over her shoulder and Daniel throwing back a “Don't wait up” before they disappeared into the trees.
In the following silence, Cam and Teal'c shared a look, then headed in opposite directions, collecting wood for the night's fire.
They met back at camp with an impressive load and made short work of preparing the pit for the evening's meal. Team dispersed to their individual pursuits and with nothing left to do, Cam plopped down by the nearest tent, leaned back against his pack, and engaged Teal'c in conversation.
“Talk to me, Teal'c.”
“What would you have me say, Colonel Mitchell?”
Cam shrugged. “Tell me something about SG-1's missions.”
“I thought you had read all of the SG-1 mission reports,” Teal'c replied, lowering himself to the ground across the fire-pit from Cam.
“I have, but you know as well as I do that you don't put everything in the report.” He grinned. “Tell me something I don't know.”
Cam could sense Teal'c hesitate, and saw him flick a glance down the hill toward Sam, fondness in his gaze. Then he glanced up, expression mischievous.
“I do not believe that you know the full story of Colonel Carter's encounter with the inhabitants of P3Y-274,” he said.
Cam grinned wickedly. “Do tell.”
The tale involved the natives of P3Y-274–an agrarian society transplanted from ancient India—who had been fascinated by Sam's hair. It transpired that the Goa'uld who had brought their ancestors to the planet had been in a blonde host at the time and had presented herself as the goddess Parvati—and now the people believed Sam to be their goddess, returned. To further complicate matters, SG-1 had arrived on the planet just in time for the Gauri festival, a celebration of Parvati which the people expected Sam to preside over. At Jackson's urging, Sam had played along, but when the “fertility blessing” part of the festival came around, her will promptly up and left her.
Teal'c's description of the fallout had Cam rolling with laughter.
“Ah, to have seen her face!” he choked out.
“General O'Neill made sure to recount the event as often as possible,” Teal'c assured him. “But Colonel Carter had stories enough to fight back.”
“I'm sure of it.”
While Teal'c had spoken, the sun had dropped lower in the sky. With darkness creeping into the campsite, Cam lit the fire and soon had a merry blaze crackling between them. Out in the field, Sam lit a couple of lanterns, and they looked like giant fireflies floating among the tall grass as she moved them here and there to aid her work. The sound of crickets—or something closely related to crickets that made a cricket-like sound—filled the still evening air. After a moment, Teal'c spoke again.
“Colonel Mitchell, will you tell me more of your time among the Sodan?”
The question surprised Cam, and he glanced up to find Teal'c watching him, the glow from the fire throwing his face into hard planes of light and shadow. Cam was well aware of the respect the Jaffa had for his Sodan kin, and how much he regretted not being able to spend more time with them prior to the Ori's revenge. He imagined Teal'c hungered for as much knowledge about the revered warriors as he could get, especially now that they, and their culture, were gone.
Cam nodded. “Only if you promise to share more of SG-1: The Early Years,” he bargained, trying a small smile and pleased to find that Teal'c returned it.
“Very well,” Teal'c agreed.
So they swapped tales while the moon rose over the mountains in the distance. Cam's recollections of the Sodan were shared in quiet tones, Teal'c listening in solemn, respectful silence of their ways and means. In contrast, Teal'c's stories of the many (unreported) adventures of SG-1 kept Cam in stitches. It was during one such recounting—about a misunderstanding between Jackson and some locals that led to a rather embarrassing moment involving Jackson, Sam, and a mud pit—that the rest of the team returned to camp.
Sam, coming in from the field, smiled at the sight of Cam in tears with Teal'c near enough grinning across from him, though she clearly wondered what was so funny. Before she could ask, Jackson and Vala appeared from the opposite direction. Eyebrows raised in surprise, Jackson lowered himself to the ground beside Teal'c and took the canteen Sam offered. As he sipped, he glanced back and forth between Teal'c and Cam, who was making a manful effort to bring himself under control. Vala, bringing up the rear, dropped down beside Jackson and plucked the canteen from his hands even as he asked Cam what was going on.
“Nothing,” Cam quickly replied, careful to keep his gaze on the fire.
From the corner of his eyes he could see the others look to Teal'c, who remained silent, then share a glance and a shrug with each other.
For the rest of the night, any time Cam made eye contact with Sam or Jackson, he would break into snickers. He was usually able to turn them into a cough before anyone noticed, but he caught the others giving him strange looks on occasion. He could see that Teal'c was still amused, as well. At one point, their eyes met over the fire. Cam broke into a grin, and Teal'c smiled back, quirking an eyebrow and tilting his head ever so slightly before returning his attention to Sam's explanation of the device she had brought.
Cam chuckled to himself and made a mental note to plan another overnight mission.
Rating: PG
Fandom: Stargate SG-1
Characters: Cameron Mitchell, Teal'c
Word Count: 3136
Categories: humor, friendship
Spoilers/Warnings: Three parts with no decisive setting within the series, other than they begin after "Collateral Damage". [If anyone is interested, I wrote them with these rough parameters in mind: Part one is set in S9 shortly after "Collateral Damage". Part two is S10, sometime before "Company of Thieves". Part three takes place any time post "Talion".]
Summary: Written for the
sg1friendathon: "Cam, Teal'c. Spending downtime off world."P3W-989 was a prime spot of galactic real estate containing lush semi-tropical rainforests, a few well-preserved ruins, and not a soul around for a few thousand light years in any direction.
Cam was particularly fond of that last selling point. After the past few months, it would be nice to have a quiet, safe, explore-and-report mission.
From what the UAV had shown, most of the planet's ruins happened to be near the gate, ranged around what had once been an impressive courtyard. Or so Jackson claimed. Over time nature had begun to reclaim the area and what SG-1 found more closely resembled an overgrown garden than the open gathering space Jackson had described it as. Jackson himself had scurried off almost before the wormhole closed behind them, pointing across the way at the largest set of ruins and murmuring something about investigating the temple complex. Sam tagged along after him, following the energy readings she was picking up from the same general area.
Cam and Teal'c stayed behind. From the elevated platform on which the gate stood, they could keep an eye on the wonder twins as well as the surrounding area. There wasn't much to keep watch on, though, given that the planet was uninhabited. And, if the gate area was anything to go by, no one had visited in quite some time.
Just the same, Teal'c took up position at one of the near corners of the dais, staff weapon at his side. He surveyed the area wordlessly, glancing over every few minutes to where the tops of Sam and Jackson's heads just were visible above the foliage. After a quick glance around, Cam lowered himself onto the steps to the platform and settled in to wait.
He pulled out his field binoculars and killed a few minutes scanning the area up to the treeline, looking for anything of interest. As far as he could see, it was nothing but rainforest and ruins. With a sigh, he shoved the binoculars back in his bag. He felt twitchy just sitting around, so he began a methodical inventory of the supplies in his tac vest. Fifteen minutes later, a cramp in his calf alerted him to the fact that he had been unconsciously bouncing his leg up and down. Standing stiffly, Cam walked down to the courtyard, pacing back and forth in front of the platform. Then he walked out toward the ruins for a few meters, stopping to inspect some of the plants. He was no botanist, but some of the flora looked a bit predatory, so he retraced his steps carefully and stuck to the open area in front of the gate. He could feel Teal'c's eyes on him as he returned to pacing.
“Is there a problem, Colonel Mitchell?”
Cam glanced up to where Teal'c was silhouetted against the sun.
“Nah, I'm just restless.” He shifted his weight from one foot to the other and fiddled with the strap of his P90. “Hey, you want to spar a bit?” He jerked a thumb over his shoulder in the direction of the ruins. “I can tell by the excited chatter that Sam and Jackson are going to be a while yet and I'm a little bored.”
“Would sparring be wise?” Teal'c asked as he descended the stairs.
“Yeah,” Cam said, peeling off his gun and vest. “There's nobody else here; we can make a little noise.”
Teal'c quirked an eyebrow. “I meant for you.”
Cam pulled up short in unhooking his holster to give Teal'c a look. “Yeah,” he said after a moment. “I'll be fine. C'mon, I need to move around a bit.”
Teal'c nodded in assent and proceeded to divest himself of unnecessary equipment. Their gear in neat piles, the two moved into the center of the open area and stood facing one another. As Teal'c appeared perfectly willing to wait, Cam made the first move, coming in low with a punch to the abdomen. Teal'c easily dodged the move and thwacked him between the shoulder blades for good measure. Recovering quickly, Cam responded with a fake right, a left jab, and a swift kick from his right leg, all of which Teal'c deflected. Then Cam, restless energy getting the better of him, moved too quickly into what was, in retrospect, too obvious an opening. He found himself staring up at the sky, knocked flat on his back by a sneaky sweep of the legs he hadn't even seen coming.
Teal'c appeared in his field of view, expression bland as he offered Cam a hand up. Cam clasped the proffered hand and hefted himself to his feet. Brushing off his pants and rolling his shoulders, he set his feet for another go.
“Again,” he said.
They continued on for some time, fighting their way back and forth across the courtyard. Teal'c decidedly owned the matches, though Cam got in a few good licks as well, much to his pleasure and Teal'c's apparent surprise. It wasn't often that he had been able to get one up on Teal'c during their sparring sessions; he had considerably improved. Sodan training could do that for you, he mused. Still, each session—however long it lasted—inevitably ended with Cam on the ground and Teal'c helping him back up again.
After the fifth time, there was humor in Teal'c's eyes as he stretched out a hand and calmly intoned, “Again, Colonel Mitchell?”
Cam released a huff of laughter as Teal'c hauled him to his feet.
“Nope,” he said, giving Teal'c a clap on the shoulder and heading over to where they had left their gear. “I think I'm good with getting my ass kicked for the day.”
“Have you found your center again?”
That brought him up short and Cam looked to Teal'c in surprise. Teal'c stared serenely back at him. Cam contemplated the question, taking a deep breath and realizing that he did feel steadier, more relaxed. He had just wanted to burn off some extra energy; instead, Teal'c had managed to turn their sparring match into some sort of therapy session. He cut Teal'c a look out of the corner of his eye and shook his head in amusement.
“Yeah,” he said, pulling on his vest. “I'm better.”
Teal'c nodded and plucked his staff weapon off the ground. “In that case,” he said with the hint of a smirk, “perhaps we should check on Daniel Jackson and Colonel Carter?”
“Good plan.” Cam clipped his gun back to its holster and motioned for Teal'c to take point. “Lead the way.”
-00000-
Cam wasn't particularly fond of caves, but he did like the ocean, so he figured their time on P7C-120 balanced out.
They were in a shallow cave on a steep cliff above an ocean of deep blue-green. At least that was the color it had been during the day. As they were currently halfway through the planet's eleven-hour night, he couldn't actually see the ocean, but the roar of the surf rose to where they were camped out in the cave's mouth. Out across the water, dual full moons slowly made their way across the horizon.
They had come to the planet on a routine meet-and-greet, but when the village elders mentioned a powerful device used by the gods of old and Sam's eyes had lit up like a kid on Christmas morning, Cam knew they were in for a longer slog. The mission was expanded to a search-and-recover, supplies were sent from the SGC, the team loaded up, and they set out in search of the device. Finding the thing had been half the battle. The locals had pointed out the general location of the device to them. On a map. At a point nearly eight klicks from the nearest village, and closer to eleven from where they were at the gate. It had been a long trek through a pretty rough landscape, but from the way Jackson and Sam had reacted upon seeing the device, the field trip was apparently worth the work. And Cam had to admit that the cave had a very nice view.
Jackson and Sam were near the back of the cave, working on the device. Jackson was translating, Sam was tinkering, and Vala was at turns helping and hindering their progress. Cam wasn't entirely sure what the device was for—something to do with shields and energy waves, if he had heard Sam correctly—so he joined Teal'c at the cave entrance and let the others get on with it.
He took a deep breath as he lowered himself to the ground beside Teal'c.
“Ah, salty sea air,” he said. “I love it.”
“It is pleasantly refreshing,” Teal'c agreed, “and the sound of the tide most soothing.”
From behind them rose the familiar refrain of a Jackson and Vala spat.
“Very,” Cam agreed.
As Sam restored the peace with a terse word, Cam rifled in one of his vest pockets and produced a pack of cards. He waved them in Teal'c's direction.
“Up for a little poker?” he asked.
Teal'c appeared to contemplate the offer for a moment before shifting around to face Cam.
“With what shall we bet?” he inquired.
Cam glanced around and spotted the small pebbles lining the way into the cave. Scooping up a double handful, he deposited the pile between him and Teal'c.
“How about these?”
Teal'c scrutinized the pile and nodded. “These will suffice. Should we separate them out? They appear to mostly be of light and dark varieties.”
“Sure,” Cam said, reaching over to grab another scoop.
Between them, they made short work of the sorting and before too long they each had two small piles of pebbles beside them, one light and one dark. After a short debate, they had agreed to give them values of five and ten dollars each, respectively. Cam then shuffled the deck and dealt the hands.
They were both content to play in near silence, the crashing waves and the sound of their teammates' working enough noise for the confined space. Cam found that Teal'c played his hands wisely and bet boldly and, as far as Cam could see, had absolutely no tell. It also didn't hurt that Teal'c had some one hundred years or so of practice at maintaining a stoic facade. Cam teasingly called him on cheating for that, but Teal'c just smiled enigmatically.
Numerous hands and nearly two hours later, Cam's pebble pile was dangerously low.
“I believe we should refrain from any further hands,” Teal'c advised gravely as he collected the cards. “By my calculations, you currently owe me $560, and your source of betting funds is almost non-existent.”
Cam waved him off. “That's alright,” he said, leaning over to snag a few more pebbles from the cave mouth. “I'm learning to read you.”
Teal'c raised an eyebrow. “I do not think that your ability to 'read me' is helping you in your current situation.”
“Maybe not,” Cam said, “but it'll help me everywhere else.”
He glanced up and met Teal'c's eyes. Teal'c held the look for a moment and slowly bowed his head, his gaze measuring. Then he held out the deck.
“It is your deal, Colonel Mitchell.”
-00000-
His team was in an unusually good mood, no doubt thanks to their current mission.
P4M-652 was blessed with a practically untouched remnant of middle-period Incan civilization (or so Jackson had said) as well as having the distinction of being one of the few—if only—places in the galaxy where one could study the effects of a black hole on solar radiation as it passed through a planet's atmosphere (or so Sam had told him). Landry had given them an exceptionally gracious time frame of three days for the expedition, but neither Jackson nor Sam appeared willing to waste a second. Shortly after they struck camp on a low hill, Sam meandered off into grassy plain that opened on one side of the camp, taking the loaded-down FRED with her.
As she set up her monitoring equipment, Jackson and Vala prepared for their encounter with the natives. Citing the pristine nature of the planet's civilization and the length of time they would be spending with the locals, Jackson had brought what he considered more appropriate attire for their interactions. He and Vala changed into the native gear—an amalgamation of what Jackson said the Incas from Earth had worn and the adaptations he had spotted amongst their descendants here, as per the MALP report.
After a final check to make sure Vala had her outfit on correctly and that their less-than-native equipment was securely hidden under their clothing, Jackson and Vala trooped off in the direction of the nearest settlement. Cam threw a warning to be careful at their retreating backs, Vala giving him a grin over her shoulder and Daniel throwing back a “Don't wait up” before they disappeared into the trees.
In the following silence, Cam and Teal'c shared a look, then headed in opposite directions, collecting wood for the night's fire.
They met back at camp with an impressive load and made short work of preparing the pit for the evening's meal. Team dispersed to their individual pursuits and with nothing left to do, Cam plopped down by the nearest tent, leaned back against his pack, and engaged Teal'c in conversation.
“Talk to me, Teal'c.”
“What would you have me say, Colonel Mitchell?”
Cam shrugged. “Tell me something about SG-1's missions.”
“I thought you had read all of the SG-1 mission reports,” Teal'c replied, lowering himself to the ground across the fire-pit from Cam.
“I have, but you know as well as I do that you don't put everything in the report.” He grinned. “Tell me something I don't know.”
Cam could sense Teal'c hesitate, and saw him flick a glance down the hill toward Sam, fondness in his gaze. Then he glanced up, expression mischievous.
“I do not believe that you know the full story of Colonel Carter's encounter with the inhabitants of P3Y-274,” he said.
Cam grinned wickedly. “Do tell.”
The tale involved the natives of P3Y-274–an agrarian society transplanted from ancient India—who had been fascinated by Sam's hair. It transpired that the Goa'uld who had brought their ancestors to the planet had been in a blonde host at the time and had presented herself as the goddess Parvati—and now the people believed Sam to be their goddess, returned. To further complicate matters, SG-1 had arrived on the planet just in time for the Gauri festival, a celebration of Parvati which the people expected Sam to preside over. At Jackson's urging, Sam had played along, but when the “fertility blessing” part of the festival came around, her will promptly up and left her.
Teal'c's description of the fallout had Cam rolling with laughter.
“Ah, to have seen her face!” he choked out.
“General O'Neill made sure to recount the event as often as possible,” Teal'c assured him. “But Colonel Carter had stories enough to fight back.”
“I'm sure of it.”
While Teal'c had spoken, the sun had dropped lower in the sky. With darkness creeping into the campsite, Cam lit the fire and soon had a merry blaze crackling between them. Out in the field, Sam lit a couple of lanterns, and they looked like giant fireflies floating among the tall grass as she moved them here and there to aid her work. The sound of crickets—or something closely related to crickets that made a cricket-like sound—filled the still evening air. After a moment, Teal'c spoke again.
“Colonel Mitchell, will you tell me more of your time among the Sodan?”
The question surprised Cam, and he glanced up to find Teal'c watching him, the glow from the fire throwing his face into hard planes of light and shadow. Cam was well aware of the respect the Jaffa had for his Sodan kin, and how much he regretted not being able to spend more time with them prior to the Ori's revenge. He imagined Teal'c hungered for as much knowledge about the revered warriors as he could get, especially now that they, and their culture, were gone.
Cam nodded. “Only if you promise to share more of SG-1: The Early Years,” he bargained, trying a small smile and pleased to find that Teal'c returned it.
“Very well,” Teal'c agreed.
So they swapped tales while the moon rose over the mountains in the distance. Cam's recollections of the Sodan were shared in quiet tones, Teal'c listening in solemn, respectful silence of their ways and means. In contrast, Teal'c's stories of the many (unreported) adventures of SG-1 kept Cam in stitches. It was during one such recounting—about a misunderstanding between Jackson and some locals that led to a rather embarrassing moment involving Jackson, Sam, and a mud pit—that the rest of the team returned to camp.
Sam, coming in from the field, smiled at the sight of Cam in tears with Teal'c near enough grinning across from him, though she clearly wondered what was so funny. Before she could ask, Jackson and Vala appeared from the opposite direction. Eyebrows raised in surprise, Jackson lowered himself to the ground beside Teal'c and took the canteen Sam offered. As he sipped, he glanced back and forth between Teal'c and Cam, who was making a manful effort to bring himself under control. Vala, bringing up the rear, dropped down beside Jackson and plucked the canteen from his hands even as he asked Cam what was going on.
“Nothing,” Cam quickly replied, careful to keep his gaze on the fire.
From the corner of his eyes he could see the others look to Teal'c, who remained silent, then share a glance and a shrug with each other.
For the rest of the night, any time Cam made eye contact with Sam or Jackson, he would break into snickers. He was usually able to turn them into a cough before anyone noticed, but he caught the others giving him strange looks on occasion. He could see that Teal'c was still amused, as well. At one point, their eyes met over the fire. Cam broke into a grin, and Teal'c smiled back, quirking an eyebrow and tilting his head ever so slightly before returning his attention to Sam's explanation of the device she had brought.
Cam chuckled to himself and made a mental note to plan another overnight mission.
no subject
on 2011-09-06 06:51 pm (UTC)“Yeah,” Cam said, peeling off his gun and vest. “There's nobody else here; we can make a little noise.”
Teal'c quirked an eyebrow. “I meant for you.”
::sporfles::
“I do not think that your ability to 'read me' is helping you in your current situation.”
“Maybe not,” Cam said, “but it'll help me everywhere else.”
And that is nice.
I'm not overly fond of the later seasons of SG-1, but this was a genuinely sweet take on a very warm friendship.
no subject
on 2011-09-06 08:48 pm (UTC)