stargateficrec | Endeavor Series, by Redbyrd (PG)

Rec Category: Gen

Pairing: none
Category: gen, original character, humor, drama, episode related, Sam Carter, Daniel Jackson
Warning: some language
Author on LJ: redbyrd_sgfic
Author's Website: Redbyrd's Stargate Fanfiction
Link: Desperate Endeavor, first part of three; links to next part at the end of each section

Why This Must Be Read: Not only does Redbyrd write the most wonderful gen stories, but she is also an absolute master of writing good-quality fic from the POV of a minor or original character - a truly rare talent among Stargate fanfic authors. Her stories are all episode-based, and many of these are from classic perspectives; but she also cleverly gives us the points-of-view of those minor characters that wander into the episode, look around in bemusement, then wander out again. Nyan, Krista, Stephen Raynor, Ferretti, the Tok'ra Kanan - all these serve as the narrators in various Redbyrd fics, giving us unique perspectives on the episodes we know and love so well.

In the Endeavor series, Redbyrd goes for a truly unique POV: the astronauts who rescue Jack, Sam, Teal'c, and Bra'tac from the crippled death gliders at the end of Serpent's Lair. Bewildered at the rapid change of events and fascinated by the four people they rescue, the four crewmen of the shuttle Endeavor go searching for the people they'd met and the wondrous, terrifying world that they'd glimpsed. By the time the series has ended, Redbyrd has delightfully woven the events of Message in a Bottle into the story, giving her own original character a perfectly legitimate cameo on the actual show.

While the Endeavor series might seem to start a bit slowly to some readers, it's well worth reading for a fun and different perspective on SG-1.

Sam shook her head. "You really don't know what you're asking for."

I leaned forward, trying to put all my urgency in my face and tone. "No, I don't. But I want to. I need to know." I could read the negation in her look. "Please. You told me that you had always dreamed of joining NASA. Well that was my dream, too. And I did it. But that was before I knew there was more. Now that I do- I can't go back to making presentations to schoolchildren like it never happened."

She looked undecided, and glanced at her friend. "Daniel?" She picked up her water.

He was looking at me steadily. He not only understood, he empathized with the hunger to know, the curiosity. I could see it written on his face. But there was a shadow there as well. He said, "Ian, how badly do you want to know? You're asking for something pretty serious. You could die. Or worse." He trapped my gaze with his own. Had I thought this man young? He couldn't possibly be, not with the echoes of pain and horror and impossible grief I saw written in his face. I dropped my eyes first and realized that the shadow on his neck was not cast by his collar, but rather was a ring of yellowish-green bruises chained around his throat. He looked like someone had tried to strangle him. His words echoed in my ears. "Or worse." What was worse than death? I put the thought aside and marshaled my arguments. Ignorance was worse than death, as far as I was concerned.

"The space program isn't exactly safe." I replied. "And I didn't join the Air Force only to get into NASA. I took an oath. And recently I've gotten the idea that there are more threats to my country than I ever realized. I'd rather be a defender than a defendee." I shivered a moment, thinking of two nuclear bombs lashed to the floor of the shuttle and the older man, Jack, floating beside them and saying ruefully "I sure wish I'd had those yesterday."

Daniel looked away from me back to Sam and they exchanged another one of those unreadable looks that obviously conveyed volumes to them. The dynamic was hauntingly familiar, and I remembered the unconscious awareness that Sam, Jack and the other man had had with one another. Like a combat team, I'd thought at the time. I looked dubiously at Daniel. He really didn't look like a soldier, with his longish hair and shabby civilian clothes. But that easy flow of unspoken communication said that he was as much Sam's teammate as the others. Before I quite realized it, the question fell off my tongue. "So where were you when your friends needed a ride?"

There was a flicker of something very like mischief in his eyes and a faint quirk at the corner of his mouth as he glanced at Sam, just swallowing her water. "Oh, I'd decided to walk home."

Sam choked and sprayed the full mouthful of water across the table, then turned red as she continued to cough, glaring across the table at her teammate. "Not funny." She finally got out, although the growl was belied by a gleam of humor.

Endeavor Series, by Redbyrd (PG)

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