Work Text:
Down Time (or Tuesdays at 10)
by Saurion
Cnl. Jack O?Neill mopped up the last of the eggs yolk from his plate with a crust of bread. Licking the crumbs from his finger he gave Mjr. (or Dr. depending on wether she was firing a gun or taking it apart) Samantha Carter a glance as she retook her seat and opened the local paper she had just purchased. Dr. Daniel Jackson tilted his head back and savored the last few drops of coffee. Teal?C ?.well he didn?t do much aside from imitate statuary having already finished his breakfast and had slipped into a light kehl-no-reem listening to the morning rain dance off the canopy of the café °atio they were seated under.
?So what are we doing here again.? Jack wiped his hands and waved for the check.
Daniel waved his empty cup at the waiter as well. ?Same as before having breakfast, aside from that I?m just as clueless.?
?Sam??
?Not a clue sir but the coffee was good enough to keep me from complaining.?
A agreeable grunt issued from Daniel as his cup was filled with the hot brew but otherwise his attention was drawn into the amber liquid.
?What about you T??
?I cannot ascertain the reason for our presence here either O?Neill but I agree that the food and drink are indeed most edible. The Benedictine eggs were most delicious.?
?Eggs Benedict T. N yeah the grub is ages beyond the base chow, but come on people how?d we get here? This wouldn?t be the first time we get snatch and hooked up to some dream machine.? The four paused remembering their own incidents of mental manipulations.
Samantha folded the paper and put it down. ?Well let?s try a time line Sir. What were we last doing before we showed up here. I started working on the fluctuations the MALP picked up when we sent it to PL3-4LM. I?m reading over the spectrographic readings and suddenly I?m reading over a menu.?
?After the debriefing with Hammond I crashed in my room on base.?
?I too had gone into my rest cycle after meeting with GeneralHammond.?
?Danny??
Daniel started up from the cup that had frozen to his lips as he had recalled one of the earlier incident of manipulation by a man called the Gamekeeper. Where he has to relive the death of his parents never knowing that he could have changed what the outcome. ?Hum oh um I was working on a series of glyphs SG-12 found. Craig asked me to take a look.?
?Then??
?Then, oh I looked up and I saw the store across the street. That?s it.?
Sam let the answers soak in and choose her next question. ?Ok then when did we notice we weren?t at the base anymore??
?Nah don?t think that will work.?
?Why not??
?Well me and Teal?C were out of it and I bet you two got lost in what you were doing.? Bashful silence answered his statement. ?I don?t think any of use can give an accurate time when we fell through the rabbit hole, only when we woke up here. I know it was a little after 10 when I notice I wasn?t on my bunk anymore.?
Teal?C gave a slow blinking nod. ?Indeed.?
Danny ran a free hand through his hair. ?Ok then maybe we should try and figure out why were here. Are we being observed? Are we just being kept out of the way? Is this another dream trap or group hallucination? I mean ?? with a frustrated grunt he sat back in his seat.
Looking back down at the paper in front of her Sam pulled the sections apart. ?Maybe we can we get from the newspaper??
?Well first of all what was the city called again??
SKREEEEHHHHHHHHHHHHH-CRASH-ehhhhhhhhhhhhhh
All heads turned towards the intersection just a few yards away on the cross street. A old blue-white Ford truck had struck the rear left side of a equally old but more beat up Mustang and caused it to T-bone, trapping the driver but not doing to much damage. The wheel well had locked under the truck keeping it from being rolled but acting as a skid brake. Already patrons and pedestrians were on their cel phones to 911 but sirens could be heard approaching. Also there appeared to be a small set of fold away flashers inside the truck itself. Seeing the respective parties moving around and seeing it was probably an undercover of plain clothes officer?s vehicle, which meant odds were the sirens were headed straight for the accident, the team stayed seated.
As soon as the road dust and smoke cleared enough to see the driver of the Mustang was foolishly trying to climb out the window on his side and over the hood of the truck rather than simply go out the passenger door. By the time he was half way clear the driver of the truck had pulled a gun from the small of his back and was ordering him to stop moving. When ?Mustang? had crawled onto the roof his mental state became apparent as he blinked owlishly and continued to claw at the hood.
Jack gave a second glance to the truck and wondered if the passenger there was injured but he was soon out of the truck as well, speaking rapid fire into a cell phone. In he relative silence of the scene they could hear when he spoke to the larger man with the gun. ?Dispatch says an ambulance is 10 minutes away Jim.?
?Jim? gave a nod and kept his gun trained. As soon as squad cars arrived several uniforms gave a quick glance to the young bouncy haired man and hurried, moving to grab Mustang and lift him off the truck as he had started to come around and resisted the effort. Once they had him cuffed and on his feet Jim reholstered his gun. The adrenaline shock showing as it took a couple of tries to get it in and locked down.
?You ok chief?? Bouncy hair gave a smiling, thumbs up.
Finished with Miranda rights, Mustang was stuffed into a squad car and the remaining officers moved to direct the thankfully light traffic and investigate the scene. A couple of officers moved up each of the streets to take statements from witnesses.
?So how many does that make for him??
?This year 4 but he only wrecked his last one.?
?No I heard that one got blown up. I wonder who hates Ellison more, the guys those two catch or his insurance agent.?
?Yeah well be thankful Sandburg seems to be a good luck charm.?
?Good luck charm?!?
?Yeah he may keep wrecking his trucks but it always just him and the guys they?re chasing. Before the kid he?d leave trails of car wrecks.?
?Isn?t the sweet he?s trying to be a safe driver for his little pet.?
*snort* ?Probably but don?t say that within shooting distance of Ellison.? The uniformed officers gave each other knowing leers and separated into the crowds.
Sam turned back to her team mates. ?Why do those names sound familiar??
Jack groaned. ?T you got the entertainment section? Pass it over? Flipping through the pages rapidly another groaned issued from the colonel. ?Damn it.?
?Sir??
?Jack??
?O?Neill??
Laying out the paper he stabbed at what appeared to be the TV listings? specifically the ones for 10am on cable
*The Sentinel ? ?Sentinel - The Latonans possess an Asgard protection device called a Sentinel, which protects the planet by teleporting away or destroying attackers. A NID team steals the device damaging it in the process. Anubis, seeing the weakness, moves to invade trapping Tobias' team on the planet..?*
?Some idiot got our listings mixed up!?
?damn it.? Daniel?s echoed Jack?s curse as he pointed to the 10PM time slot
*Star Gate ? ?Sentinel ? A peaceful fishing weekend takes a vicious turn when the remote becomes the site of an elaborate, illegal operation involving millions of dollars, a highly contagious "disease," phony military officers and a train bound for nowhere?*
Daniel checked his watch and motioned for a final cup of coffee seeing their hour in Cascade, Washington was almost up. ?I guess we should be expecting guests tonight.?
Teal?c lifted a thick eyebrow. ?Should we inform GeneralHammond??
The three humans looked to each other, equally slow smiles spreading. ?NAH?
********
END