Story Notes: This is a fanfic to match the Sparks Ingnite film trailer for a Sparky flick on YouTube. Bear with me, its pretty much completely AU although some of the scenes are the same, several missions have been rewritten and reordered to fit with the trailer sequence.
The End Notes of the chapter include the time index of the video and the scene I am alluding to.
The video is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHtwu93ROp0
The End Notes of the chapter include the time index of the video and the scene I am alluding to.
The video is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHtwu93ROp0
Author's Chapter Notes: This place was weird, with capitals.
This place was weird. Sheppard meant that with a capital W; and possibly all the other letters too. He’d been stationed at McMurdo for a while, a side-effect of pissing off your superiors, but it meant he spent a lot of time in the sky and, out here, his commanding officers didn’t have as many stiff spines as they did everywhere else he’d been stationed.
Plus, it was a really, really long way from his ex-wife and the rest of his family. They always had preferred Nancy to him anyway.
He’d picked up General, what was it? O’Neill. Nice guy for a general, less about the rank and more about the job. Especially when that missile came outta nowhere and tried to turn them into a fireball above the snowy plains of Antartica.
He still had no idea what that missile was, but right now, it seemed the least weird part about his day. He’d been shot at before; but he’d never been this deep under the ice, where a very non-regulation base had been carved out. It was filled with white lab coats, more scientific personnel than military and he was fairly sure his clearance didn’t reach this high.
But he had come in with the General. Good luck telling that guy otherwise, he brooked no argument and he not only had high clearance, he looked down on guys with high clearance.
‘Wow.’
He rounded the corner and saw the chair, but it wasn’t like any chair he’d seen before. It looked carved out of metal or rock, it had delicate patterns all over it and it sat mounted on a large block of stone, coated in ice. One of the scientists.... Beckett... was babbling away about experimental technology, Ancient genes and his apologies for shooting at them, when Sheppard stepped up and onto the plinth and gingerly took a seat.
Beckett turned around. ‘Wait, no! Don’t do that!’
‘C’mon, what harm could it do? What’s the chance of me having one of these gene thingies anyway.’ The Ancient gene, the key to activating the technology all around him and a rarity amongst, oh, all of humanity. Sheppard was nothing special, he was a good pilot, a really good pilot, but that was all.
With those fateful words, the chair flipped him back, and glowed from within He could hear as well as feel the hum from under him.
‘Remote actually,’ Beckett responded, approaching the chair cautiously, as if it were an irate grizzly preparing to attack. ‘Don’t move, and don’t think about anything!’
He dashed away, returning moments later with several more people in tow. He recognised one of them, a sandy-haired, serious looking man he had seen in McMurdo before. He wasn't military and his name was Jackson, but that was all Jon knew. O'Neill looked at him, spreading his hands and repeated his words of warning from earlier. 'I told you not to touch anything!'
'Uh... I-I just sat down?' he offered, it was the best he could right now, he was busy trying not to think. He kind of shrugged with his expression, too wary to move in case he blew everyone up.
‘Who is this?’ A dark haired woman demanded, interrupting the tenuous conversation between them.
Sheppard switched his gaze from O'Neill and over to the woman. Someone else told him to think about where they were in the solar system. Sheppard’s mind wondered to vague childhood lessons in science, including a little astronomy. Instantly the ceiling glowed and like a 3D projection, images of the planets, the Sun, asteroids, the whole damn solar system, floated above his head, swooping and circling in perfect unison.
'Did I do that?’ he asked and, in front of him, the brunette folded her arms and grinned like she had suddenly walked in and found Christmas.
It was still weird, but he liked it a whole lot more.
It was the woman, one Dr Elizabeth Weir, who sat him down at a small conference table, surrounded by racks of supplies and outlined what this base was, she told him about the Stargate program too and their plans for some place called Atlantis. In another galaxy.
He almost laughed, but the second it showed on his face the start of disappointment showed on hers and he swallowed it down. Jackson and Beckett had made themselves scarce, so he couldn’t so much as exchange the incredulous glance that was irritating his face with someone else. He didn’t answer straight away, she didn’t expect him too, but by the time they climbed back into the helicopter, he could tell something was brewing in the General's mind.
He soon found out what it was. ‘If you don’t take this opportunity, you’re an idiot.’ The General’s actual speech was a bit longer than that, but it was the gist of what he was getting at. If anyone else had told him that, Sheppard would have clammed up and ignored the potential transfer. He was comfortable here at McMurdo. But he liked the General. He didn't take any shit and he didn’t give it either, unless he had to.
Despite the threat that O'Neill made about not wanting his ass on the Expedition if he couldn't decide by the time they landed, he still had the opportuity to think about it a little longer. The next day he found himself on leave and with a ride back on a cargo plane home, all courtesy of Dr Weir and General O'Neill. He took the chance to visit his brother and his family, he saw his father too, but none of them, except his sister-in-law, had really cared about his warning of a longterm, possibly hazardous assignment. His father had been the worst, but then he’d never approved of Jon’s choices in life.
So he found himself, two weeks later, geared up and standing in the Gateroom of the SGC, a little known base under NORAD. He was under Colonel Sumner, the military adjunct to one Dr Elizabeth Weir, commander of the expedition. It felt strange, being under the command of a civilian, but Sheppard figured he’d adapt. It wasn’t until Sumner took him to task over his past record and reminded him who was in charge, that he realised the Colonel had no intention of letting Weir run the show.
But then Weir appeared to have other ideas. ‘Thank you, Colonel Sumner, but we all go through together, this isn't a military command,’ was only part of the speech she threw at him. Up in the control room, Sheppard saw O’Neill smother a grin as Sumner stalked past, silently fuming. Weir followed, stepping around him to the head of the MALP. Sheppard felt a grin tug at the corner of his mouth as his eyes followed her.
She was attractive, smart and took no shit, not even from a Colonel waving a P90 who could probably kill her with his bare hands in her sleep. He’d read a little about Dr Weir, a diplomat, civilian, acknowledged expert in her field and consummate professional. If nothing else, he could expect a fair trial from her, unlike Sumner. Pushing through to the front, Elizabeth Weir headed straight for the Stargate, her senior team following. The mob made its way behind the MALP, creaking its way up the metal ramp and through the shimmering event horizon. He didn’t really know what to expect, so gritting his teeth and closig his eyes when it came to his turn, Sheppard stepped through the wormhole.
Plus, it was a really, really long way from his ex-wife and the rest of his family. They always had preferred Nancy to him anyway.
He’d picked up General, what was it? O’Neill. Nice guy for a general, less about the rank and more about the job. Especially when that missile came outta nowhere and tried to turn them into a fireball above the snowy plains of Antartica.
He still had no idea what that missile was, but right now, it seemed the least weird part about his day. He’d been shot at before; but he’d never been this deep under the ice, where a very non-regulation base had been carved out. It was filled with white lab coats, more scientific personnel than military and he was fairly sure his clearance didn’t reach this high.
But he had come in with the General. Good luck telling that guy otherwise, he brooked no argument and he not only had high clearance, he looked down on guys with high clearance.
‘Wow.’
He rounded the corner and saw the chair, but it wasn’t like any chair he’d seen before. It looked carved out of metal or rock, it had delicate patterns all over it and it sat mounted on a large block of stone, coated in ice. One of the scientists.... Beckett... was babbling away about experimental technology, Ancient genes and his apologies for shooting at them, when Sheppard stepped up and onto the plinth and gingerly took a seat.
Beckett turned around. ‘Wait, no! Don’t do that!’
‘C’mon, what harm could it do? What’s the chance of me having one of these gene thingies anyway.’ The Ancient gene, the key to activating the technology all around him and a rarity amongst, oh, all of humanity. Sheppard was nothing special, he was a good pilot, a really good pilot, but that was all.
With those fateful words, the chair flipped him back, and glowed from within He could hear as well as feel the hum from under him.
‘Remote actually,’ Beckett responded, approaching the chair cautiously, as if it were an irate grizzly preparing to attack. ‘Don’t move, and don’t think about anything!’
He dashed away, returning moments later with several more people in tow. He recognised one of them, a sandy-haired, serious looking man he had seen in McMurdo before. He wasn't military and his name was Jackson, but that was all Jon knew. O'Neill looked at him, spreading his hands and repeated his words of warning from earlier. 'I told you not to touch anything!'
'Uh... I-I just sat down?' he offered, it was the best he could right now, he was busy trying not to think. He kind of shrugged with his expression, too wary to move in case he blew everyone up.
‘Who is this?’ A dark haired woman demanded, interrupting the tenuous conversation between them.
Sheppard switched his gaze from O'Neill and over to the woman. Someone else told him to think about where they were in the solar system. Sheppard’s mind wondered to vague childhood lessons in science, including a little astronomy. Instantly the ceiling glowed and like a 3D projection, images of the planets, the Sun, asteroids, the whole damn solar system, floated above his head, swooping and circling in perfect unison.
'Did I do that?’ he asked and, in front of him, the brunette folded her arms and grinned like she had suddenly walked in and found Christmas.
It was still weird, but he liked it a whole lot more.
It was the woman, one Dr Elizabeth Weir, who sat him down at a small conference table, surrounded by racks of supplies and outlined what this base was, she told him about the Stargate program too and their plans for some place called Atlantis. In another galaxy.
He almost laughed, but the second it showed on his face the start of disappointment showed on hers and he swallowed it down. Jackson and Beckett had made themselves scarce, so he couldn’t so much as exchange the incredulous glance that was irritating his face with someone else. He didn’t answer straight away, she didn’t expect him too, but by the time they climbed back into the helicopter, he could tell something was brewing in the General's mind.
He soon found out what it was. ‘If you don’t take this opportunity, you’re an idiot.’ The General’s actual speech was a bit longer than that, but it was the gist of what he was getting at. If anyone else had told him that, Sheppard would have clammed up and ignored the potential transfer. He was comfortable here at McMurdo. But he liked the General. He didn't take any shit and he didn’t give it either, unless he had to.
Despite the threat that O'Neill made about not wanting his ass on the Expedition if he couldn't decide by the time they landed, he still had the opportuity to think about it a little longer. The next day he found himself on leave and with a ride back on a cargo plane home, all courtesy of Dr Weir and General O'Neill. He took the chance to visit his brother and his family, he saw his father too, but none of them, except his sister-in-law, had really cared about his warning of a longterm, possibly hazardous assignment. His father had been the worst, but then he’d never approved of Jon’s choices in life.
So he found himself, two weeks later, geared up and standing in the Gateroom of the SGC, a little known base under NORAD. He was under Colonel Sumner, the military adjunct to one Dr Elizabeth Weir, commander of the expedition. It felt strange, being under the command of a civilian, but Sheppard figured he’d adapt. It wasn’t until Sumner took him to task over his past record and reminded him who was in charge, that he realised the Colonel had no intention of letting Weir run the show.
But then Weir appeared to have other ideas. ‘Thank you, Colonel Sumner, but we all go through together, this isn't a military command,’ was only part of the speech she threw at him. Up in the control room, Sheppard saw O’Neill smother a grin as Sumner stalked past, silently fuming. Weir followed, stepping around him to the head of the MALP. Sheppard felt a grin tug at the corner of his mouth as his eyes followed her.
She was attractive, smart and took no shit, not even from a Colonel waving a P90 who could probably kill her with his bare hands in her sleep. He’d read a little about Dr Weir, a diplomat, civilian, acknowledged expert in her field and consummate professional. If nothing else, he could expect a fair trial from her, unlike Sumner. Pushing through to the front, Elizabeth Weir headed straight for the Stargate, her senior team following. The mob made its way behind the MALP, creaking its way up the metal ramp and through the shimmering event horizon. He didn’t really know what to expect, so gritting his teeth and closig his eyes when it came to his turn, Sheppard stepped through the wormhole.
Chapter End Notes: Video: No link to a scene