Author: Jedi Buttercup
Disclaimer: The words are mine; the worlds are not. I claim nothing but the plot.
Rating: T
Summary: A:tS, SG-1. A certain package meant for Angel ends up on Daniel Jackson's desk instead. 1100 words.
Spoilers: B:tVS post-"Chosen", AU of Angel 5.1 "Conviction", Stargate SG-1 through 7.12 "Evolution Part II".
Notes: "Conviction" aired in October of 2003 in the US; that falls between the airing of the two halves of "Evolution" in Season 7 for Stargate SG-1. Also references SG-1 3.21, "Crystal Skull".
Daniel frowned as he picked through the mail that had piled up on his desk during his little trek to South America. He'd been away from base a little longer than he'd intended to be, what with his involuntary detour in the hands of Honduran revolutionaries and the time he'd spent recovering from their hospitality afterward. Usually, Nyan or one of the others in his department picked through his correspondence while he was gone, but it looked like no one had so much as thrown out the junk mail this time, so it made quite the stack. Of course, they'd probably got out of the habit while he'd been Ascended.
About halfway through the stack, he came across an envelope with a handwritten label and a Post-It note attached. The label read simply, "Dr. D. Jackson, c/o Stargate Command," with no further identifying information. The attached note, in the hurried scribble he knew belonged to Nyan, read, "Found half-under your door while you were gone. Science department scanned it, pronounced it harmless; looks like it's some kind of disc-shaped artifact. Left it for you to open."
Daniel raised his eyebrows and reached for the letter opener, his curiosity fully engaged. Whoever had sent it to him obviously didn't want to be identified, and just as obviously must have connections here at the Mountain; a member of the rogue NID, perhaps, whose conscience had pricked him into sending Daniel something his co-workers shouldn't get their hands on? On the other hand, it could be a trap of some kind, bait meant to lead him along a trail they'd planned out or even some kind of harmful technology they'd stolen off-world that the SGC had failed to recover. He'd have to be careful with it, whatever it was.
He tore one end of the envelope open, then tipped its contents onto a small cleared space on his desk. The disc-shaped artifact Nyan had speculated about turned out to be an amulet of some kind, metallic in nature with some kind of writing inscribed on it and an unknown gem framed in the center. It was connected to a chain, long enough for the amulet to be worn about the neck rather than displayed or held in some other fashion.
Daniel opened one of the drawers on his desk and retrieved a pair of gloves, intent on picking the amulet up to study it further, but before he could even slip them on a tornado of black particles appeared above the amulet, swirling violently and disturbing everything else spread across his desk. He backed away in alarm, dropping the gloves and picking the phone up off his desk with the intention of dialing Jack's extension.
The phone fell from his hands as bright lights appeared in the tornado, coalescing into a glowing skeleton. The apparition evolved further as he watched, collecting flesh and clothing until a screaming man was revealed, standing right in the middle of his desk. Literally in the middle of it, legs hidden underneath the desktop, a torso clad in black t-shirt and black leather coat rising above where the amulet had rested. The man had shockingly blond hair, probably bleached, and a scar through one eyebrow.
"Uh, hello?" Daniel said, staring dubiously at his apparently incorporeal guest as the man stopped screaming, bending forward with hands on his thighs and gasping for breath.
The man jerked at Daniel's voice, glancing upward at Daniel, then back down at the surface of the desk that hid his lower body. "Bugger," he said, in a lower-class British accent, stepping forward until he was clear of the obstacle. Then he narrowed blue eyes at the archaeologist and spoke again. "What... How did I get here? And who the bloody hell are you?"
"I'm Dr. Jackson," Daniel answered, edging toward the door. "I received an envelope with an amulet in it, and when I opened it-- well, you appeared." He could hear the tromp of boots out in the hall, no doubt summoned by his truncated phone call; he hoped Sam was with them, and that she had some time to spare from the Supersoldier project, because letting an incorporeal stranger loose in a base full of very sensitive secrets struck him as a very bad idea. If the NID had had this in mind when they sent him the package, it was looking more and more like a trap.
"And where's this then?" the stranger asked, scowling at him. "I'm no-- I'm no ghost. Is this someone's idea of Hell?"
"No," Daniel snorted, nonplused. "Generally there's more in the way of fire and brimstone involved, if Netu's anything to judge by."
The opening of the door interrupted his guest's confused response to that, and Daniel glanced that way in relief. "Sam," he exclaimed. "I'm glad you're here; it looks like we have a new problem to work on."
His teammate glanced around his office briefly, then returned her gaze to his face with a puzzled line between her brows. "What problem?" she said. "Daniel, Colonel O'Neill said your line went dead just after you rang him; what's going on?"
Daniel blinked, then gestured incredulously at the blond man still standing behind his desk. "That problem," he said. "Incorporeal visitor, showed up in my office with no warning?"
Sam glanced where he pointed, then back at him again, frowning. "Daniel, are you feeling all right?"
"What the Hell is going on?" the other man talked over her. "Who are you people? What happened to Buffy? Where am I?"
Daniel looked back at his visitor again, a little more thoughtfully this time, then up at the cameras recording the interior of his office, then back to Sam. There'd been a point in his life when he had been incorporeal, invisible to everyone except his grandfather Nick, but that time there'd been crystal skulls and aliens involved, not amulets. Still, the parallels seemed too coincidental for comfort. Nick had been able to see him only because he'd been through the out-of-phase process himself once, and it seemed highly likely, though based on a limited sample yet, that the same was true for Daniel's visitor. Had whoever sent him the amulet known about its occupant and sent it because no one else could see or hear him, rather than for some nefarious purpose?
He cleared his throat to attempt an explanation. "Uh, I'm guessing the video recorders aren't getting this either, so... um. That envelope that Nyan found under my door and had your scientists scan? It turned out to contain an amulet with some... unexpected... properties."
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