sg_five_things | Prompt 32.05

Four ways the team has changed, and one way they haven't.

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Date: 2007-11-13 05:53 pm (UTC)

From:

majorsamfan.livejournal.com

post 1 of 2 by majorsamfan

First way SG-1 has changed - and one it hasn't:

The composition of the team has changed over time -
First - Jack, Daniel, Teal'c and Sam (after CotG)
Then - Jack, Teal'c, Sam and a variety of temporary "replacements" for Daniel while he was ascended
Then - Jack, Teal'c, Sam and Jonas
Then for a brief time - Jack, Teal'c, Sam, Jonas AND Daniel
Then Jonas went home to Kelowna/Langara, and Daniel was back full time until the next time he disappeared/ascended/went all glowy.
Then Jack became General Jack, and Sam led SG-1 as a 3-man team with Teal'c and Daniel.
After they defeated Anubis and saved the world for the umpteenth time (only Teal'c remembers the exact count off-hand), the "band" split up as Jack headed off to Washington, Sam went to Nellis to "be there" regularly for Cassie, and Teal'c left earth to work with the newly-formed Jaffa council. Daniel got all excited about the opportunity FINALLY to go to Atlantis.

Then...Mitchell took General O'Neill up on his offer to be assigned anywhere he wanted, and, unaware they'd all gone their merry ways, he *wanted* SG-1 - the *real* SG-1, not some band of misfits he put together. You could have measured the let-down he felt when he arrived to find them on the Richter scale. He somehow pulled them all back in, with his charm, the urgent need, and General O'Neill's help. The band...back together again! (With a new back-up singer to boot)

Then Sam got the Atlantis command, and the team slipped back into a foursome.

So yeah, SG-1 changed composition over the years, but the one thing that has remained, no matter who has led the team: SG-1 IS the front-line team, the earth savers, earth's first line of defense.

Second way SG-1 has changed:

They all have learned to trust others - their team and other SGC personnel - with their lives. Jack and Sam had, to a degree, done this before, but never this completely. They literally have put their lives in Teal'c or Daniel or each other's hands so often now, that it has become second nature. T, Daniel and Sam are learning to trust Cam and Vala to that level. Vala has learned to trust SOMEone for the first time in her life, and Cam is reveling in the magic that is SG-1

Date: 2007-11-13 05:54 pm (UTC)

From:

majorsamfan.livejournal.com

post 2 of 2 by majorsamfan

Third way SG-1 has changed:
They drink less and less often. Of course, Teal'c never imbibed alcoholic drinks, but Jack has tapered back except on the occasions that SG-1 is missing. The doctor had suggested he might lose that "paunch" that had started to form, but really, he has so much responsibility now that he rarely indulges. He still cooks with beer regularly, though.

Sam almost never has more than a beer or two, or a glass of wine at dinner, and that usually on a team night. Daniel never could hold his liquor, but ever since one particularly scary night when he woke up with Vala draped across him, he limits himself to one beer. Cam only drinks more than a beer or two when they lose someone from the SGC and then only with his team for a safety net. Okay, Vala doesn't drink much less, but she's young and has an incredible capacity for alcohol for one so slender.

They're not sure whether it's because they're inured of the earth-is-always-at-risk life or just getting older and wiser.

Fourth way SG-1 has changed:

The risk-taking, secrecy and weariness have settled in.

They don't take their immortality for granted any more. When they first headed out as a team, they thought that together they could kick any snaky a$$ they came across. In the end, they did win that war, but at what cost? They'd all risked their lives (and others'), their sanity and their integrity so many times. Henry Boyd and his team. Sha're. Skaara. Janet's death hit them all hard. Sure, they could focus on all the lives she had saved, but they had not been able to save HER - and that stung. And then losing Prendergast and the Prometheus followed so quickly by the Sokalov and Colonel Chekov. Good people fallen, and no one outside the program knew.

So they also wearied of all the secrecy. Sam sure understood her father a lot better. Jack thanked God for the second chance at life but the secrets he bore weighed heavily on his shoulders. Broad shoulders, to be sure, but human all the same. Teal'c tried not to resent having to live on base, as did Vala. Daniel still, so many years later, felt the sting of academic banishment - and the loss of his ivory tower naiveté. Cam hated not being able to tell his family back home anything about what he did, though he thought of SG-1 as his second family.

Still, it's what they do; they love the challenge. Sometimes, though, they're just *tired*. Their bodies sometimes object to getting out of bed or to sleeping on the ground for several nights in a row - or a week - and to 20-click hikes from the Stargate to find the nearest village.

They would never admit to being *old*, but yeah, sometimes they weary, especially since every time they defeat one enemy, another, more evil and relentless, inexorable even, shows up in the galaxy.

Date: 2007-11-28 02:55 am (UTC)

From:

sid

Re: post 2 of 2 by majorsamfan

*is depressed* But, wait, there were positive things in here, too. It's not all weariness and threats to the galaxy. Trust and teamy goodness. Saviors of the planet. NOT waking up any more with Vala scarily draped across you. LOL

Great job. :-)

Date: 2007-11-29 12:48 am (UTC)

From:

majorsamfan.livejournal.com

Re: post 2 of 2 by majorsamfan

Sorry to be depressing...I probably was particularly annoyed at a co-worker that day or something!

Thanks for reading and feeding...

Date: 2007-11-26 03:13 am (UTC)

From:

sid

Four ways the team has changed, and one way they haven't.

1. They’ve gotten older. Especially Teal’c. And, on rainy mornings when his knees ache, Jack.

2. Personnel have come and gone. Hairstyles, likewise.

3. They’ve faced death too many times to be the same people they once were. Faced it, experienced it, come back from it. They know it’s not normal to be so intimately acquainted with what most people consider to be the last great mystery. They know they’re not normal. They’ve stopped worrying about it. Mostly.

4. Not much surprises them any more. Life used to be full of surprises. Mostly unpleasant ones, sure, but at least it was stimulating. Alternate realities once came as a shock. The Asgard were a myth come to life. Learning about the Ancients was like reading a slowly unfolding story that turned out to have a crappily written ending. They’re still hoping to re-write that, but they won’t be surprised if they fail. Not much surprises them any more.

They still save the planet. That doesn’t change. That never gets old. That keeps them going. When they get tired, when they want to give up, they look at each other and remember who they’re fighting for, and why. Their devotion to duty and to each other will never alter. Not while there’s still breath in their bodies. Not even beyond.