"Mirror, Mirror" by Seldear (PG-13)

[casapazzo.livejournal.com]

Hey there! I'm taking another shift behind the wheel for October, peddling Stargate crack to one and all. You may recall that I'm partial to gen stories, particularly action pieces, and this month's first rec is no exception.

Fandom: STARGATE SG-1
Pairing: none
Author's homepage: SG-1;
Author on LJ: seldear

Why this must be read:
The quantum mirror from "There but for the Grace of God" was such a fabulous device for fic-writers, allowing easy access to countless alternate universes, and therefore endless story possibilities. In "Mirror, Mirror," when an alternate Ska'ara stumbles through the mirror, SG-1 has to follow him back through to his universe in order to save him - and their own counterparts. What they encounter is the stuff of some of their worst nightmares, but the more they try to save their other selves, the more they endanger the mission.

Seldear writes taut action scenes that flow like a good episode, and does an excellent job with the alternate SG-1. You hurt for them, because they're still very much the characters you know, but at the same time still distinctly different, products of their own separate history. Like the original Star Trek episode of the same name, "Mirror, Mirror" shows a reflection in a shattered glass.

Mirror, Mirror