sg_five_things | Prompt 102.05

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set 102

Prompt 102.05

Five things that future history books get wrong (or right) about the Stargate and the SGC

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1. They frequently make it sound like the SGC always knew what they were doing and had a plan. Sam reads some of the books about the programme and can't recognize anything in them, not even the people with her friends' names attached to them. She prefers the books that treat them like they were slightly crazy, but brave and heroic, always pulling off a last minute rescue. At least that feels real.

2. They always miss Jack out of the list of commanders at the Mountain. Not that he cares, but he could live without the way the various grandkids of ex-SGC staff always look at him like they think he might be lying about it. It's why he mostly sticks to stories about his team's daring missions. That, and they're a lot more entertaining than paperwork.

3. Some of the more military focussed books list off all the dead from whichever part of the programme they're writing about. John reads the lists from Atlantis, every time, and he wishes he didn't know every single name that they've missed off and every single name that they've added incorrectly. He'd love to be able to forget.

4. Some of them talk about the people in the city, the relationships between them, and they always mention that (a) Dr Keller and Major Davis met while working for the SGC and (b) they were the first long-term inter-galactic couple that it produced. Cam threatens to write and tell them they're wrong every single time, and usually only doesn't because John points out that, after 15 years of maintaining their cover story, they really don't want to have to explain to the massed press where their son actually came from.

5. They say that Teyla was a warrior princess, or John's girlfriend, or an ambassador from her people, or just a woman who happened to live in the city and have a child there. She laughs over them with Kanaan and lets Jennifer complain about how they don't have these problems with how to write about Ronon. Then she puts the books back on the shelves and turns on her laptop, lets stories about those Teyla's spin out under her fingers, in between writing the true story, about her and Elizabeth, Kate and Laura and Jennifer and Larrin - all the people that she will not allow history to get completely wrong.

very good. i like #2

I love all of these, particularly #4.

I love this list! Especially #5, because I can absolutely see that happening.

Keller/Davis? Cool!

Go Teyla! Get those women's stories out there!

Love #5 especially, but also #1 because I have a special place in my heart for old skool SG-1. God, talk about flying by the seat of your pants!

I love this story, especially #3 and #5.

#3 is just so completely Sheppard. Completely.

1. Elizabeth is listed as the first leader of Atlantis, but the history books rarely contain any details about what she actually did. There's a name and a photo and a list of credentials, but somehow, there's never any mention of her brave negotiations with the Genii or the way she forged a thousand trade links that kept Atlantis alive during that first year without contact, or even her role in getting approval for the Expedition in the first place. And there's certainly no mention of the way her protocols and the enduring relationships she developed in the Pegasus Galaxy saved Earth years later during the War. Instead, all of the material on Atlantis focuses on the military-scientific exploits of John and Rodney, and the peaceful, diplomatic activities somehow fade into obscurity.

2. Sam does better in the history books--a lot of space goes to discussing her role in getting the Stargate Program off the ground, and her various scientific contributions as a member of SG1 and at Area 51. Much less space is given to discussing her time as a soldier. Somehow, the decisions that led to the pivotal role of the Hammond during the War end up attributed to her first officer. Sam is said to have retreated to her lab during that final battle, trying to perfect a weapon that she'd actually finished days earlier.

3. The official story, dutifully repeated in the history books, is that Colonels John Sheppard and Cameron Mitchell died off-world in the line of duty--two more lives sacrificed to save Earth during the War. The reality...well, the reality involves undercover operations and alternate dimensions and alien medical technology and psychic bonds, and fervent prayers by a number of people that they really were dead. Or happy and together and not suffering.

4. Some books insist that the SGC had once possessed the secret for eternal life (now lost, possibly during the War), and had chosen to limit access to that technology to its senior staff. The supposedly ageless senior staff might have laughed at that, if any of them had still been alive to hear those stories. (It wasn't eternal life--just extended. And it mostly wasn't the senior staff who were the recipients. They didn't need it enough to pay the price.)

5. The books say that Cassie accidentally started the incident that forced the Earth-wide reveal of the existence of the stargate. In truth, it was a carefully calculated move on her part, driven by her conviction that the long term survival of Earth required that people learn what was going on, and her certainty that the governments of Earth were not going to let go of that information in time.

The rest of reported history suggested she'd been right.

Edited 2010-08-01 06:18 (UTC)

I'd really love to read this whole story, but every snippet was perfect on it's own in telling what was important. #2 is the one that got me the most, and I'm not really that much of a Sam fan.

I'm glad you liked it! I'm wondering if I could make it all fit together in one story. It would be angsty, I think, but it might be fun.

All of these rock but I seriously want the whole story for #3 and what really happened to Cam and John.

*sends cam and john to bat their pretty eyes in your direction in the hope you might consider telling it at some point*

Thanks!

I think John and Cam would have one of the most depressing stories in the whole angst-filled piece. I'm not sure they'd be batting their eyes to get me to tell that ;)

Cassie saves us all! \o/

I see a similarity with you and

bluflamingo, with the women's stories in particular not being told fully or correctly. That makes future history books a lot like past history books! :-/

Well, reality did serve as a source of inspiration when responding to this prompt! As it sometimes will. (Thinking about it, I could have gone the other way and had the men misrepresented--Sam as the one who got things done on SG1 rather than Jack?--but I think that's been done. Not necessarily in Stargate, but in SF writing in general. Of course, so has this, but the other is only funny through its unexpectedness.)

Instead, all of the material on Atlantis focuses on the military-scientific exploits of John and Rodney, and the peaceful, diplomatic activities somehow fade into obscurity.

Oh, you mean kind of like how it is on the show?

These were all great, but ooh, Cassie! I love that she's the mastermind! It's fitting that the girl from another world gets to be the one to finally tell the truth.

Oh, you mean kind of like how it is on the show?

I may possibly have been thinking of the show when I wrote that one...

Cassie saving the world by forcing the reveal of the Stargate was the first one I came up with. Originally I had her start a war (forcing her to make the bitter choice between some people dying now in a war she was sure Earth could win, and everyone dying later because no one knew), but then made the rest war-themed, and so she ended up with an "incident" instead. I'm imagining lots of posturing and ships in Earth's skies, but no shooting.

Very very nice story, especially #1, #2 and #5. And i'm curious as to what actually happened to John & Cam. I second (or third, or foth) the request to write more!

Thank you!

In order to write what happened to John and Cam, I'd have to actually figure that out, instead of just throwing a bunch of suggestive terms together! But I'm pretty sure it was related to #4 too...

number five - that would make one heck of a story!

That's the one that I think would be easiest to write out of all of them, so I may actually get to that one eventually.

Oh ouch. You amaze me for being able to make me cry with so few words, and also make me so angry for the way Elizabeth and Sam are treated by history.

Or happy and together and not suffering

I want to believe this ending. Even if it was awful to get there, I don't want to imagine that they ended up dead after all of it.

Thank you so much! That's such a wonderful thing to hear. Not that I was necessarily setting out to make you cry, but still.

I notice we both took similar paths when it comes to how women get treated in the history books. Too much experience with real life to draw on, I suppose.

Very good! #3 and #5 were especially powerful.

I love this! Very well done!

Thanks!

i like #3. the truth is often more complicated that what's reported.

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Prompt 102.05

Five things that future history books get wrong about the Stargate and the SGC

Re: Five things that future history books get wrong about the Stargate and the SGC

Re: Five things that future history books get wrong about the Stargate and the SGC

Re: Five things that future history books get wrong about the Stargate and the SGC

Re: Five things that future history books get wrong about the Stargate and the SGC

Re: Five things that future history books get wrong about the Stargate and the SGC

Re: Five things that future history books get wrong about the Stargate and the SGC

Re: Five things that future history books get wrong about the Stargate and the SGC

Five things that future history books get wrong (or right) about the Stargate and the SGC

Re: Five things that future history books get wrong (or right) about the Stargate and the SGC

Re: Five things that future history books get wrong (or right) about the Stargate and the SGC

Re: Five things that future history books get wrong (or right) about the Stargate and the SGC

Re: Five things that future history books get wrong (or right) about the Stargate and the SGC

Re: Five things that future history books get wrong (or right) about the Stargate and the SGC

Re: Five things that future history books get wrong (or right) about the Stargate and the SGC

Re: Five things that future history books get wrong (or right) about the Stargate and the SGC

Re: Five things that future history books get wrong (or right) about the Stargate and the SGC

Re: Five things that future history books get wrong (or right) about the Stargate and the SGC

Re: Five things that future history books get wrong (or right) about the Stargate and the SGC

Re: Five things that future history books get wrong (or right) about the Stargate and the SGC

Re: Five things that future history books get wrong (or right) about the Stargate and the SGC

Re: Five things that future history books get wrong (or right) about the Stargate and the SGC

Re: Five things that future history books get wrong (or right) about the Stargate and the SGC

Re: Five things that future history books get wrong (or right) about the Stargate and the SGC

Re: Five things that future history books get wrong (or right) about the Stargate and the SGC

Re: Five things that future history books get wrong (or right) about the Stargate and the SGC

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