Rearranging Fate, by Redbyrd (PG-13)

[sg-fignewton.livejournal.com]

Rec Category: Episode Fix

Pairing: none
Category: gen, missing scene, episode fix, alternate universe, Daniel Jackson, Charles Kawalsky, team, action/adventure
Warning: bit of language
Author on LJ: redbyrd_sgfic
Author's Website: Redbyrd's Stargate Fanfiction

Link: Rearranging Fate

Why This Must Be Read: It's a Redbyrd episode fix story! What more do you need to know?

This wonderful, wonderfully long fic has only just become available online, a year after it was published in Fragments. It starts with Charlie Kawalsky's POV in, well, POV, as he discovers exactly how essential Daniel Jackson has been to the success of "our" universe. The story follows Kawalsky through his parts of the episode, then turns its back on the quantum mirror to focus on what happens next, as Kawalsky lobbies to find "their" Daniel Jackson and make him a part of the SGA.

Redbyrd does a really wonderful job of extrapolating the differences between the mirror-POV universe and our own. From the moment we meet Daniel in Cairo to his unceremonious arrival at the SGA in handcuffs to the slow creation of this universe's version of a new SG-1, we're met with different choices and different paths that all seem eminently reasonable. Dr. Carter the civilian would hardly join her husband on SG-1, so Redbyrd gives us the canonical also-ran. The SGC would surely have given the SGA some essential mission reports, so we get to see Tonane's people and their "spirits" approached in the right way - although apparently, nothing can ever go right on Shyla's planet, even if you're forewarned against sarcophagi. In a really fascinating twist, the events of one particular late season 3 episode are paralleled at more or less the same timeframe... but with enough differences to leave the reader not quite sure of what's really happening.

One of my favorite aspects of the story is Redbyrd's deft explanations of how the SGA managed to get as far as it did. I'm not sure if the "only three SG teams" is show canon or Redbyrd fanon (there are some nice cameos in here from other Redbyrd stories, too), but we get a clear picture of how the mirror universe stumbled through the gate without Daniel to show them how to get there. We really are the lucky ones, getting Daniel from right at the beginning, aren't we?

Make sure you've got lots of time to read this one. And while you're at Redbyrd's webpage, check out her other newly released zine fic: Shades of Oannes, for an interesting twist on the usual post-Fire and Water angst.

"Isn't it time somebody told me what the hell I'm doing here?" the young man demanded irritably.

Kowalski looked at him with interest. He'd wondered how the Jackson of this universe would be different. It was clear that this one had never submitted to military discipline. In place of the military haircut and uniform he had seen on the other Daniel, this one had shaggy long hair, lightened by the desert sun and rounder glasses, broken and mended with frayed adhesive tape. He also was thinner and filled with a sort of restless energy Kowalski didn't remember the other Jackson having. From his grubby state and day's growth of stubble, it was clear he hadn't been given time to shower or change. Kowalski's eyes fell on his wrists. "Why is Dr. Jackson handcuffed?" he asked the guard.

The guard looked like he wanted to say 'he was handcuffed when I got him' but managed a neutral and professional, "I believe Dr. Jackson objected to accompanying the MPs, Major."

"Well, take them off." Kowalski ordered. This was going to be hard enough without having already pissed off Jackson on top of it.

He looked at the young man, who said, "About time," flexing his shoulders as he was at last allowed to move freely. He muttered something under his breath in an unfamilar language. Kowalski realized he must have been handcuffed all the way from Cairo and winced in sympathy. He had to be pretty stiff. But he seemed to take it in stride and turned an enquiring blue gaze on Kowalski.

"Um, hi." Kowalski said. "Dr. Jackson. You don't know us, but actually, we sort of know you. I'm Major Charles Kowalski. These are General Hammond, Colonel Jack O'Neill."

"Speak for yourself," O'Neill said. He looked around the swarm of people in the busy room and turned to the bald man. "May be we should take this in your office, sir?"

As they turned toward the office, Jackson's gaze fell on the two story stone ring outside the window of the room. He stopped dead. "Wow. What's that?" He nearly pressed his nose against the glass, trying to make out the symbols. "Those symbols, I've never seen anything like them."

Kowalski put his hand on Daniel's shoulder. "C'mon. You're about to find out."

Inside the office, Jackson put his curiosity about the ring on hold and said, "Okay, what am I doing here? And what do you mean, you know me?"

The three men exchanged a glance, then Kowalski pulled out the piece of paper from his pocket. He handed it to Jackson. "Can you read this?"

Jackson unfolded the creased yellow sheet and squinted at the heiroglyphs. " 'Beware the destroyers'? Melodramatic. What's going on? I can't imagine anyone going to all this trouble to play a practical joke." He handed the paper back. "Where did you get this?"

Kowalski grimaced. "Well, that's where the story gets a little weird. See, you gave it to me." He'd asked Daniel for sample of translated Goa'uld writing when they had transferred the supplies and computer files from the SGC. He'd thought the linguist would have to find an example in his files and photocopy it. Instead he'd just grabbed a convenient pad of paper and written out the phrase.

"I gave it to you?" Jackson repeated skeptically. "Really."

Hammond grunted. "Oh, it gets better, son. That writing? It's Gould. The alien language."

"No, it isn't." Jackson contradicted instantly. "It's an early form of ancient Egyptian hiero-" His voice suddenly trailed off. "Alien?" he looked a bit wildly from one to the other. "But, but, but...the dig at -" he started mumbling as his mouth couldn't keep up with his brain, "-Khufu's pyramid- Giza-pre-Old Kingdom. Damn it." He stopped dead, eyes blazing with excitement. "I was right!"