TITLE: Another Night, Another Planet
E-MAIL: eli @ popullus.net
RATING: PG-13
POSTED: Nov. 11, 2004
NOTES: Written as part of a series of snippets. For Katie M., who asked for Stargate and "bureaucracy."
DISCLAIMER: Read

---

They were far enough back that there wasn't any warning. One moment, intense negotiations; the next, Jack was facing off with the MALP, his hands cutting viciously through the air.

"Well, that's got to be a good sign," Daniel observed bitterly.

"I do not think so." Teal'c's face was set in a complete lack of expression that was downright chilling. Seeing that expression again wasn't any better than watching Jack erupt.

A pause in the conflict, maybe for a response. Or an admonishment, Daniel revised as Jack suddenly stiffened, his body forming a slim line standing against the shimmering circle.

The event horizon crackled, fizzled, disappeared. A very final answer.

Letting out a frustrated sigh, Sam started forward. "I guess we should--"

Daniel stopped her with a hand on her arm. "I'd give it a minute."

Jack growled something that it was probably better not to have heard and then, spinning back, delivered a solid boot to the housing of the machine. Daniel winced. Right on the old, carefully tapped-out mark from that avalanche on P4X-281; the thing was going to develop a complex.

"Um, colonel?" Sam lurched forward away from the treeline as Jack drew back for another kick, her concern fully overriding caution. "Please don't. You'll knock something loose."

"Yeah?" Jack shot her a hot glance, then turned on the MALP again with a sneer. "Think I'll get a kewpie doll? Or maybe a lollipop?"

"You're not going to get permission, Jack," Daniel said, heading across the small clearing. Teal'c was a solid, comforting presence right behind him. "I'm pretty sure the Joint Chiefs outrank the MALP."

He was almost braced for the glare, and was left blinking when Jack only shook his head, lips tight, and bent down to pick up his pack.

"The damn--" Jack cut himself off with a snort. "No, I can't even blame this on the bureaucracy. This is just pure bullheaded--"

"So, they're just going to leave it this way," Daniel said quietly. "They're not going to even let Frasier, or the--"

"No, Daniel. They're not."

Jack wasn't glaring, and he wasn't yelling.

Daniel turned to the DHD and started dialing.

**

Return to my Stargate stories