Upon a Fiery Steed, by Vathara (PG-13)

[sg-fignewton.livejournal.com]

Rec Category: Crossover

Pairing: none among SG-1 characters; references to het and slash pairings among Gundam Wing characters
Category: crossover, sg-1, action/adventure, Janet Frasier, Jack and Daniel friendship
Warning: crossover with Gundam Wing, violence, strong anti-Tok'ra sentiment
Author on LJ: unknown
Author's Website: Vathara at FF.net

Link: Chaptered at FF.net or as a single file

Why This Must Be Read: Consider that I know absolutely nothing about Gundam Wing. I have a vague idea that it's an anime cartoon or comic, but that's about it. So I read this as SG-1 meeting entirely original characters... and I loved it. Since I'm not familiar with Gundam Wing, I don't know how many liberties were taken in order to make both genres co-exist, although Vathara does specify that the Gundam Wing parts are AU. But Vathara has a marvelous talent for drawing of mythology and sucking the reader into the story, so it definitely works smoothly.

When Daniel is taken prisoner by a Goa'uld queen and breaks out together with a second prisoner, a chain of events is started that allows Earth to finally find good, dependable allies in their battle against the System Lords. There's lots of political intrigue with the Tok'ra, fascinating background for the Gundam Wing characters and their reworked-into-Stargate-mythos history, the intricate, careful dance of first contact, and Daniel's struggle to understand and accept the inevitable changes that life-saving measures have caused him. Add some great original characters among the  SG teams and the Jaffa, superb Janet action, and some very intense battles; mix in some deliberate swipes at Mackenzie and Tok'ra machinations. The satisfying result is a excellent, well-written crossover that you won't want to stop reading, no matter how long it takes you to finish it.

One of my favorite bits to this story is Gairwyn's scenes. I've always had a particularly soft spot for the people of Cimmeria, and when Daniel suggests Cimmeria as a safe world for a neutral meeting, we're treated to a seriously funny misunderstanding between cultures and some stammering explanations on Daniel's part. Vathara is wonderful at taking us back to Daniel's archeological and anthropological roots, and Daniel does an excellent job at soothing various ruffled feathers.

This is a serious story, but there's still in-character humor. Considering that the Gundam Wing characters are apparently teenagers, some of that humor is teenaged. But none of it rings as slapstick, even the rubber symbiote. Poor Siler. :)

Be warned that if you're a Tok'ra fan, you're not going to like this story very much. Most of Vathara's SG-1 fics are crossovers - some of these are very elaborate, and all are well-crafted - and in every single one of them, the Tok'ra are portrayed as being all too true to their natures as Goa'uld. Even Jacob and Selmac don't start out very prettily in this one, although they are more than redeemed in the end. While I don't particularly dislike the Tok'ra, the reasoning, theories, and motivations that Vathara gives them seem very realistic. By the time we reach the story's end, many of the Tok'ra have been humbled. Of course, if you share Jack O'Neill's opinion of the Tok'ra, that shouldn't bother you too much!

There are major changes in the SG-1 universe by the end of the story, but they all follow naturally in the course of events. I give this fic a "very highly recommended" rating. Now, if we just convince Vathara to stop describing Daniel in terms of movie!Daniel with long bangs and blond hair, everything would be absolutely perfect. :)

Since the story is so long, I've included two excerpts, one from the POV of each genre:

Heero narrowed his eyes; though he knew it'd have little effect. Duo Maxwell, Pilot 02, was one of the few people who could meet his gaze and never flinch. "You risked contaminating this base. Why?"

Duo glanced at Quatre. Raised a brow. Clear?

"No one's listening," Heero said flatly, even as the empath nodded. "Why?"

"Had to," Duo said frankly. "Can you imagine what kind of tangles the Alliance Council would knot themselves up in if word got out we had a Tau'ri in custody?"

Heero blinked. Wondered if his senses had finally, inexplicably decided to scramble their input. Reran the past few seconds of his photographic memory, and glared at Duo.

Duo grinned.

"He… you… Duo, are you sure?" Quatre managed.

"Spoke English, knew how to handle a knife, zat, and a staff weapon when he's sure as hell not a Jaffa, and went off on some long, involved tangent about Dimme and Lamashtu being demon daughters of Anu when he was distracting the guard," Duo ticked off on his fingers. "And Dimme said he was, and she was going to make him into a Reaver to get at Earth."

Earth. Place of myth, of legend, of System Lord curses. Homeworld of humanity. The one planet that had ever thrown off Ra's yoke and lived to tell of it.

The planet that, just a few short years past, had reopened its Stargate and cast down System Lord after System Lord to screaming destruction.

Earth. After so long. Stheno's own luck. "Only you," Heero sighed, brushing his fingers gently over that chestnut waterfall. He could still feel traces of harsh disinfectants lingering in Duo's hair; no wonder the pilot had wanted to maim Leiko.

Quatre's eyes were wide. "But I can feel… and Shi no Yami's not on Earth, it'd be in the databases…." He searched Duo's face. "You?"

"Had to." Duo winced. "Didn't have time to ask, didn't have time to explain - I couldn't let him decide to die, Quatre. I just couldn't."

Thumping doors cut off any response; a disheveled Sally Po trudged toward them, eyes aglitter with medical triumph. "We got it."

Heero nodded. He'd expected no less. "Is Daniel stable?"

"Stable as he'll get, for now," Sally said judiciously. "Yuy. You are going to tell me why you had no medical records on this man. I had to run allergy checks in the middle of a medical emergency. Two of our immune boosters would have given him fits, and that's not even counting Shinigami sensitivities. Your people throw me some loops, Duo, but I have never seen someone allergic to Jakareth before. Where on Sanq is he from?"

"Well," Duo shrugged, hair shifting over cotton. "That's the tricky part…."

And here's the Stargate one:

So, with a secure link to Commander Une and a few 'Gate-carried consults with General Hammond, Jack and Treize had hammered out a broad outline of what had to be done, then assigned teams based on who knew what. And crossed their fingers.

Defuse the bombs, Earth-specific, our job, Jack thought, mentally reviewing just a few of the highlights. EOD guys still aren't happy about letting Preventers guard them while they do it. But damn it, we had to yank most of them into the SGC in a hurry, they need people with off-world experience keeping an eye out - and with those Reavers around we're going to need SG-3 on the assault.

Take out the death gliders, Wing-specific, their job. Heero says they're willing to take their chances with our missile launchers. Sheesh. Better him than me.

Grab a Queen for the Tok'ra….

Well, that was going to be SG-1's job, specifically.

And I do not like it, not one little bit.

Daniel was nibbling his lip, covering a yellow pad with notes in a weird combination of English and hieroglyphs. Sam had been focused as a laser, quizzing the two Wing infiltrators on every last detail of How To Get Where System Lords Really Don't Want You To Go. More than once a flash of illumination had crossed her face, and her questions had ground to a halt as she scribbled down a fragment of Jolinar's memory of whatever diagram or nasty tactic had been under discussion. Teal'c looked simply bemused. Apparently Apophis had never trusted his Jaffa with knowledge of all a ha'tak's weak spots.

Worried, but not quivering masses of nerves, Jack concluded, walking away for a moment to stretch his legs. Good.

"They will be fine, O'Neill."

Ah. He had a Jaffa-shadow. "Helps to have good teachers," Jack said in the same low tone.

"Those with experience are the best instructors," Teal'c agreed.

"Experience, huh?" Jack raised a brow at him. "You know, Teal'c, if you're thinking what I'm thinking-"

"It is likely."

"-Then I'm thinking," Jack glanced at the two pilots, "Somebody's got a lot of 'splaining to do."

"Jack?" Daniel asked worriedly.

Shinigami do have good ears, Jack thought, not surprised. "They've done this before, Daniel. Not just with Dimme."

"I know."

"You see, you- what?"

"I know, Jack." The archaeologist smiled wryly. "Did you notice Colony Hall has a historical library?"

Trowa looked slightly surprised. "You were able to search the index for military references?"

"Daniel. Books. Like iron filings and magnet," Jack explained. "Only I'm guessing he didn't go through whatever you've got for a military index. Which you guys probably put a lock on anyway for us foreign SGC types?"

They didn't react. Which, knowing guerilla types, was almost as good as a taped confession.

"Relax. I would've done the same thing," Jack admitted. "Maybe we've got a common enemy right now, but humans are famous for screwing up a perfectly good working relationship. Give it a few years and we'll see if this one works out." He glanced at Daniel. "So what'd you find?"

Mischief gleamed in Daniel's smile. "Commemorative calendar."

Trowa's brows went up.

"And how does a calendar lead to them needing to explain something?" Sam asked warily.

"Well, kind of a calendar. You know, one of those books that goes through the year day by day, listing important historical events? Alliance Day was marked in red. So was Shigatsu 7th."