stargateficrec | First Contact, Last Encounter by Jb (PG-13) (Reply)

Show: SG-1
Rec Category: Daniel Jackson
Characters: Daniel Jackson, Jack O'Neill, Teal'c, Sam Carter
Pairings: None
Categories: Gen, Action/Adventure, Episode Tag
Warnings: Violence, mental and physical trauma
Author on LJ: Unknown
Author's Website: The Tablet
Link: First Contact, Last Encounter

Why This Must Be Read: The First Ones is one of my favourite episodes in the series, if only because I absolutely love Chaka and the Unas. This story doesn't actually include any of the Unas, but it picks up where the episode left off and shows us a very realistic continuation of what might've happened after Daniel was rescued. It was a long walk to the gate, after all. And Jb makes it a very harrowing journey.

"Daniel?" Jack heard Carter move up behind him, then saw her face as she rounded him and went to stand just behind Daniel. She looked much more puzzled than concerned, her forehead deeply creased with a questioning frown. Well, welcome to Wonderland, Carter. Land of Infinite Confusion. Home away from home. Danieland.

She leaned in and placed a hand on Daniel's shoulder. "Are you okay? We really need to get going."

Yeah. Needed to get going. "Yes, we do, Carter." The words were out of Jack's mouth and his body in action without conscious forethought. Plucking the knife out of Teal'c's hand, Jack reached out just as Daniel was turning to acknowledge Carter and grabbed hold of the end of the rope closest to Daniel's hands, hauling it around toward himself. Daniel had no choice but to follow the pull on his arms, turning to face Jack. "And as soon as I slice this damned thing off, we are so out of here..."

Daniel raised his hands to shoulder height, twisting away, his tone sharp. "Jack, please. I told you. I told Teal'c. Don't. Don't cut it off."

Carter jumped in with the pertinent question just as Jack was considering other possible and quite satisfying uses for the knife. "Daniel, why? Why would you want to stay tied up like that?"

The flustered look on Daniel's face might have provided great fodder for Jack under less ambiguous circumstances. "What? Stay... well, no, of course not. No! No, I don't want... I thought I explained..." Daniel frowned as Carter shook her head. "Really? I thought... I didn't? Oh! Okay. Well, it has to stay in one piece." He waved his bound hands in a wide arc, clearly indicating the cavern, going from the crude drawings on the walls to the nearest fire, and ending up with one finger pointing toward the passage the Unas had taken. "This is first contact, Sam. God, just think about it. Successful first contact with aboriginal Unas! This is an artefact." He waved his arms, drawing their attention to the dangling leash. "I mean, just look at it, at what it's made of and its construction. So far, it's the only tangible thing we have of this culture for study."

What? Jack did a double-take. Did he just hear right? Did Daniel just say, "so far"? Oh, for crying out loud.

Crap, Daniel was really getting rolling here now. "In the past, our only contact with Unas has been with those under the control of the Goa'uld, and we've made basic assumptions on their nature on the basis of their behaviour while as hosts. But now, we have an incredible opportunity here." The arms waved again, setting the trailers gently undulating in a motion that was paradoxically offensive. "Sam, this can actually provide a lot of information. It's a representative sample of..."

Enough is enough. Interrupting Daniel mid-babble with an impatient, "Yeah, yeah," Jack waved his hand dismissively through the air between them. The man had been dragged halfway across the damned planet by a 'representative sample' of primitive, clearly predatory and dangerous creatures, at the end of that ratty piece of whatever. He'd been one fork-tine's width away from being eaten alive, for God's sake. "It's first contact. You made a new friend. You think it's more than just a rope; it's an 'artefact'." He leaned forward, tugging slightly on the leather wrapped around Daniel's wrists to emphasize his point. "But it's not, Daniel. It's a leash used to drag in dinner, and it's filthy, and it looks like you've got open abrasions under there. So grab a brain here. It has to come off."

Daniel closed his eyes, his attitude and stance all too clearly plummeting toward the low end of the endurance scale. His voice a bare whisper, and he hung his head as he spoke. "I never said I didn't want it off, Jack. God, how I want it off. You have no idea." He then raised his head, though, staring directly at Jack. "But not cut off."

Ah, crap. The annoyance insistently tugging at Jack's gut was exacerbated by the concern that some of the Unas' somewhere around that corner just might not be so magnanimous as Daniel's captor, but even in amongst that Jack realized this was pretty vintage Daniel. Even as that thought alone caused his irritation to escalate, it occurred to him that as usual Daniel wasn't about to change his mind. So, fine. There was nothing to be gained from getting into an argument over it. What was an extra couple of minutes in the smelly cavern to untie the thing, compared to thirty seconds to slice it apart. The Unas wasn't the quietest nor sneakiest of varmints they'd ever had to watch out for... hell, you could both hear and smell them breathe from fifty feet away. Maybe they'd have a moment's notice, and if not, Daniel was already conveniently trussed up, a ripe peace offering. Not such a disaster. Hell, they'd spent that long fussing over the damned rope already. If that's what Daniel wanted -

Jack waved Teal'c over. "See if you can't manhandle those knots free, Teal'c. But be careful... it's an 'artefact'."