ext_4071 (![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png)
laurie-ky.livejournal.com) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
crack_van2012-07-31 09:39 pm
laurie-ky.livejournal.com) wrote in crack_van2012-07-31 09:39 pm
Entry tags:
Dr. Sandburg Finds a Sentinel by LitGal (Gen)
I've checked the rules and as I understand it, I can rec this crossover, and it will count towards the regular twelve recs, as this isn't crossover day. I didn't see what to do about the tags, but until a mod tells me differently, I'll tag for both fandoms.
Fandom: THE SENTINEL
Characters Jim Ellison, Blair Sandburg, Jack O'Neil, Daniel Jackson. (GEN)
Length 33,752 words
Author's Warning none given
Author on LJ:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
lit_gal
Author's website: Her page at AO3 | Worshipping the Geeks
Summary: Dr. Sandburg has a good life working on alien contact at Stargate Command; however, now he has news that his holy grail might just be out there in the strangest place possible--earth. Even worse, James Ellison has become the center of a vicious race that has pit Blair and the Stargate command against a rogue CIA operative, the NID, and the Chinese government. And Blair is not sure how to convince Ellison that he's with the good guys.
Why this must be read: Because Jim on the run is always fun? And Blair is being so Blair and laid back and sneaky and open all at the same time, as he tries to gain Jim's trust and recruit him to work for StarGate Command. There's plenty of snappy dialouge, Jack and Jim being old soldiers together, and Daniel and Blair being friends to satisfy Stargate fans, too.
* * *
"Why are you here?" Ellison demanded. He walked around in a half circle so that Blair could easily see him. The full moon and the black stripes across his face made an almost surreal image, like Ellison was some mythical warrior from a dream or a nightmare.
"O'Neill's boss, General George Hammond, sent me with him because I'm the closest thing they had to an expert on sentinels."
"What is your doctorate in?" Ellison asked in a sudden change of topics.
"Power structures." Blair didn't even try to follow Ellison's logic; he just answered questions. The guy with the gun pretty much got to jump illogically from topic to topic if he felt like it. "After my mentor died, I transferred to the University of Chicago and I got interested in how informal power structures form within groups. I did a comparative study of gangs, tribal systems, and a couple of local aldermanic electoral campaigns, and boy that did not make me popular. Let's just say the Air Force offer was a relief because there were certain people in Chicago who wanted me strung up by my thumbs, and I am not so sure I'm using a metaphor."
Ellison studied him for a long time, tilting his head as though searching for something in Blair's expression. "Power structures?" he asked slowly.
"Hey, I could give you my bibliography. I used everything from Bloch and Niederhoffer's 'The Gang: A Study in Adolescent Behavior' to Michels' 'Political Parties: A Sociological Study of the Oligarchical Tendencies of Modern Democracy.' I really am an anthropologist."
"Who works for the Air Force?"
"Which makes a lot more sense if you know things that I cannot tell you about." Blair looked up at Ellison, willing the other man to believe him.
Ellison crouched down, his weapon hanging from one hand as he rested his forearms on his knees. "Why are you out here? If you're not a tracker or a sniper, why would your colonel let you out of his sight?"
Blair cringed. "Okay, this is going to sound crazy."
Ellison rubbed his hand over his face. "I have a lot more tolerance for crazy than I did a few weeks ago. Try me."
"I was meditating."
"Meditating?" From the tone, he thought about as much of meditation as O'Neill did.
Blair sighed. "Yes, meditating. Man, sometimes the human brain needs a little time to process. That is not unusual." Jim raised his eyebrows. "Anyway, I was meditating, and I saw a wolf, and I really thought I was having a lucid dream, so I followed it into the woods. I was not tracking you at all."
"You found me by accident," Ellison said, his voice disbelieving.
"Actually, yes. Maybe," Blair corrected himself. "I mean, when I settled down to meditate, one of my thoughts was that I wished I could just sit down with you and talk without all the guns getting fired, so maybe subconsciously I was seeking you, and my meditation led me here."
"Your vision quest led you to me?" Ellison translated.
"It happens."
"Right, Chief, all the time." Ellison stood up and put his weapon in the leg holster, snapping the strap over the end to secure it. "And when you go wandering around in meditation, do you always carry a Sig P228? Maybe that's a standard with all the little anthropologists."
"Actually, it kinda is," Blair admitted, "but we're back into treason territory if I go too far into it."
"Save it, Chief. I can imagine all sorts of tribes and indigenous people you might go in and try and warp to the American point of view, so I don't need a briefing on your mission protocols to understand why you're a military consultant. I just don't understand how your colonel let you out of his sight."
"Hey, I do not warp," Blair protested. However, he couldn't help a small cringe because he sort of did, but he warped people to turn against the goa'uld and to see that they were false gods, which was not quite the same.
Ellison laughed. "And here I thought you were a good liar. Clearly, you aren't."
"Har, har."
"Laugh if you want, but your loose lips are too dangerous in the field. Your Colonel O'Neill should keep you leashed."
"Hey, I'll have you know I don't have loose lips," Blair protested. "If I really think someone doesn't have a right to information, I am the epitome of tight lips. This isn't exactly the first time I've been tied up and put on my knees."
"And have you been a font of information for all your other captors?"
"No." Blair glared. "But this is different. Man, I'm not telling you about my missions; I'm telling you what's going on in your life, and you have a right to that information."
Ellison moved away and leaned against a tree. "Is that the way Colonel O'Neill feels?"
Blair cringed. He wished he could say it was, but it wasn't.
Ellison gave a dark laugh. "Yeah, that's what I thought. Even if he didn't put the APB out there, he could stop it, couldn't he?"
"Probably," Blair admitted. "But man, that is just a symptom. Brackett is still out there. The NID has permission to offer you a position, and I think we all know that just means that they will catch you and find a way to blackmail you into working for them. Maybe." Blair chewed his lip.
"Maybe? Kid, if you think there's any other goal here, you're more naïve than I thought, and I'm thinking you're pretty damn naïve."
"Yeah, yeah. Look, I know the NID is going to try and blackmail you. I'm just not that sure it's going to work because being a sentinel isn't like being a computer programmer. This is genetic. It's like trying to force someone to be a great concert pianist at gunpoint."
"Counterproductive," Ellison said softly.
"Exactly. Totally counterproductive."
"In which case, they'll strap me down and let their scientists start dissecting me."
"Okay..." Blair shook his head, "I am the first to lead the anti-NID charge. Those people are like soul-sucking leeches who seem to get off on trying to gather karma. But there's no way they could get away with going that far. This is still America."
"Exactly. The Tuskegee syphilis experiment, the Pellagra incident...." Jim let his voice trail off, but his point was made.
"Not to sound like I'm defending the government because those were horrible, ethically unforgivable failures, but man, that was a long time ago."
"Keep telling yourself that, Chief. Oh, they'll put down some reason in their chart, like I have abnormal blood work and they need to make sure I'm healthy before they put me back out into the world, but the end result will be the same. I'll die restrained to a hospital bed."
"Then come talk to Colonel O'Neill," Blair blurted out.
"How far behind you are they?" Ellison asked, pulling Blair's weapon out of the back of his pants.
"Daniel was on watch when I left. There's maybe forty or fifty minutes left on his watch and then Jack will take over. He's going to check on me, and when I'm not there, he's going to throw a fit."
"Throw a fit? Chief, he's going to have a reason to throw a fit. You wandered through unknown terrain, left your backup behind, and got yourself captured by the target. He has every right to throw the book at you considering the number of regulations you've broken. And now, you're giving me names that I'm almost certain are accurate. Kid, you're going to end up in Leavenworth by the time O'Neill is done with you."
"Yeah, yeah. I'd be more afraid of getting written up if O'Neill actually knew how to fill out paperwork," Blair said with a shrug. His shoulders were really starting to hurt.
Dr. Sandburg Finds a Sentinel by LitGal
Fandom: THE SENTINEL
Characters Jim Ellison, Blair Sandburg, Jack O'Neil, Daniel Jackson. (GEN)
Length 33,752 words
Author's Warning none given
Author on LJ:
lit_galAuthor's website: Her page at AO3 | Worshipping the Geeks
Summary: Dr. Sandburg has a good life working on alien contact at Stargate Command; however, now he has news that his holy grail might just be out there in the strangest place possible--earth. Even worse, James Ellison has become the center of a vicious race that has pit Blair and the Stargate command against a rogue CIA operative, the NID, and the Chinese government. And Blair is not sure how to convince Ellison that he's with the good guys.
Why this must be read: Because Jim on the run is always fun? And Blair is being so Blair and laid back and sneaky and open all at the same time, as he tries to gain Jim's trust and recruit him to work for StarGate Command. There's plenty of snappy dialouge, Jack and Jim being old soldiers together, and Daniel and Blair being friends to satisfy Stargate fans, too.
* * *
"Why are you here?" Ellison demanded. He walked around in a half circle so that Blair could easily see him. The full moon and the black stripes across his face made an almost surreal image, like Ellison was some mythical warrior from a dream or a nightmare.
"O'Neill's boss, General George Hammond, sent me with him because I'm the closest thing they had to an expert on sentinels."
"What is your doctorate in?" Ellison asked in a sudden change of topics.
"Power structures." Blair didn't even try to follow Ellison's logic; he just answered questions. The guy with the gun pretty much got to jump illogically from topic to topic if he felt like it. "After my mentor died, I transferred to the University of Chicago and I got interested in how informal power structures form within groups. I did a comparative study of gangs, tribal systems, and a couple of local aldermanic electoral campaigns, and boy that did not make me popular. Let's just say the Air Force offer was a relief because there were certain people in Chicago who wanted me strung up by my thumbs, and I am not so sure I'm using a metaphor."
Ellison studied him for a long time, tilting his head as though searching for something in Blair's expression. "Power structures?" he asked slowly.
"Hey, I could give you my bibliography. I used everything from Bloch and Niederhoffer's 'The Gang: A Study in Adolescent Behavior' to Michels' 'Political Parties: A Sociological Study of the Oligarchical Tendencies of Modern Democracy.' I really am an anthropologist."
"Who works for the Air Force?"
"Which makes a lot more sense if you know things that I cannot tell you about." Blair looked up at Ellison, willing the other man to believe him.
Ellison crouched down, his weapon hanging from one hand as he rested his forearms on his knees. "Why are you out here? If you're not a tracker or a sniper, why would your colonel let you out of his sight?"
Blair cringed. "Okay, this is going to sound crazy."
Ellison rubbed his hand over his face. "I have a lot more tolerance for crazy than I did a few weeks ago. Try me."
"I was meditating."
"Meditating?" From the tone, he thought about as much of meditation as O'Neill did.
Blair sighed. "Yes, meditating. Man, sometimes the human brain needs a little time to process. That is not unusual." Jim raised his eyebrows. "Anyway, I was meditating, and I saw a wolf, and I really thought I was having a lucid dream, so I followed it into the woods. I was not tracking you at all."
"You found me by accident," Ellison said, his voice disbelieving.
"Actually, yes. Maybe," Blair corrected himself. "I mean, when I settled down to meditate, one of my thoughts was that I wished I could just sit down with you and talk without all the guns getting fired, so maybe subconsciously I was seeking you, and my meditation led me here."
"Your vision quest led you to me?" Ellison translated.
"It happens."
"Right, Chief, all the time." Ellison stood up and put his weapon in the leg holster, snapping the strap over the end to secure it. "And when you go wandering around in meditation, do you always carry a Sig P228? Maybe that's a standard with all the little anthropologists."
"Actually, it kinda is," Blair admitted, "but we're back into treason territory if I go too far into it."
"Save it, Chief. I can imagine all sorts of tribes and indigenous people you might go in and try and warp to the American point of view, so I don't need a briefing on your mission protocols to understand why you're a military consultant. I just don't understand how your colonel let you out of his sight."
"Hey, I do not warp," Blair protested. However, he couldn't help a small cringe because he sort of did, but he warped people to turn against the goa'uld and to see that they were false gods, which was not quite the same.
Ellison laughed. "And here I thought you were a good liar. Clearly, you aren't."
"Har, har."
"Laugh if you want, but your loose lips are too dangerous in the field. Your Colonel O'Neill should keep you leashed."
"Hey, I'll have you know I don't have loose lips," Blair protested. "If I really think someone doesn't have a right to information, I am the epitome of tight lips. This isn't exactly the first time I've been tied up and put on my knees."
"And have you been a font of information for all your other captors?"
"No." Blair glared. "But this is different. Man, I'm not telling you about my missions; I'm telling you what's going on in your life, and you have a right to that information."
Ellison moved away and leaned against a tree. "Is that the way Colonel O'Neill feels?"
Blair cringed. He wished he could say it was, but it wasn't.
Ellison gave a dark laugh. "Yeah, that's what I thought. Even if he didn't put the APB out there, he could stop it, couldn't he?"
"Probably," Blair admitted. "But man, that is just a symptom. Brackett is still out there. The NID has permission to offer you a position, and I think we all know that just means that they will catch you and find a way to blackmail you into working for them. Maybe." Blair chewed his lip.
"Maybe? Kid, if you think there's any other goal here, you're more naïve than I thought, and I'm thinking you're pretty damn naïve."
"Yeah, yeah. Look, I know the NID is going to try and blackmail you. I'm just not that sure it's going to work because being a sentinel isn't like being a computer programmer. This is genetic. It's like trying to force someone to be a great concert pianist at gunpoint."
"Counterproductive," Ellison said softly.
"Exactly. Totally counterproductive."
"In which case, they'll strap me down and let their scientists start dissecting me."
"Okay..." Blair shook his head, "I am the first to lead the anti-NID charge. Those people are like soul-sucking leeches who seem to get off on trying to gather karma. But there's no way they could get away with going that far. This is still America."
"Exactly. The Tuskegee syphilis experiment, the Pellagra incident...." Jim let his voice trail off, but his point was made.
"Not to sound like I'm defending the government because those were horrible, ethically unforgivable failures, but man, that was a long time ago."
"Keep telling yourself that, Chief. Oh, they'll put down some reason in their chart, like I have abnormal blood work and they need to make sure I'm healthy before they put me back out into the world, but the end result will be the same. I'll die restrained to a hospital bed."
"Then come talk to Colonel O'Neill," Blair blurted out.
"How far behind you are they?" Ellison asked, pulling Blair's weapon out of the back of his pants.
"Daniel was on watch when I left. There's maybe forty or fifty minutes left on his watch and then Jack will take over. He's going to check on me, and when I'm not there, he's going to throw a fit."
"Throw a fit? Chief, he's going to have a reason to throw a fit. You wandered through unknown terrain, left your backup behind, and got yourself captured by the target. He has every right to throw the book at you considering the number of regulations you've broken. And now, you're giving me names that I'm almost certain are accurate. Kid, you're going to end up in Leavenworth by the time O'Neill is done with you."
"Yeah, yeah. I'd be more afraid of getting written up if O'Neill actually knew how to fill out paperwork," Blair said with a shrug. His shoulders were really starting to hurt.
Dr. Sandburg Finds a Sentinel by LitGal
no subject
no subject
This was another story that I was surprised to see hadn't been recced, at least not in Sentinel's section. Maybe because it's a crossover and there's only one crossover day, but you can just count it as a regular rec, which is what I did.
Laurie