Title: Through The Ring
Fandom: Stargate SG-1
Author: badly_knitted
Characters: Jack O’Neill, Daniel Jackson, Major Sam Carter, Teal’c, General Hammond, OCs.
Rating: PG
Word Count: 1380
Spoilers: Nada.
Summary: It should have been just a standard recon mission to an unknown planet, but this time SG-1 get a lot more than they bargained for.
Content Notes: None needed.
Written For: Challenge 227: Ring.
Disclaimer: I don’t own Stargate: SG-1, or the characters. They belong to their creators.



As far as the members of SG-1 were concerned, it was just another routine first look at a so far unexplored planet. The MALP sent the day before had shown that the gate was located in a pleasant grassy glade surrounded by trees, a stream burbling merrily off to one side, and no signs of habitation, or even of animals. It looked close to idyllic.

“We should take a picnic,” Jack O’Neill declared. “Spread the blanket by the stream, enjoy the sunshine…” Above ground, Cheyenne Mountain, like the rest of Colorado, was in the grip of winter; the prospect of basking in actual warm weather held a definite appeal.

“This isn’t a pleasure jaunt, people,” General Hammond reminded them sternly. “There could be dangers the MALP didn’t pick up.”

Jack shrugged. “It was just a thought. A little R & R somewhere warm.” He sounded wistful.

Hammond chuckled. “To be honest, I wouldn’t mind going with you on this one,” he admitted. “The cold weather gets into my bones.”

“You and me both, Sir. Maybe you could sneak away, just for an hour or two. We wouldn’t tell.”

“Wish I could, but I have a teleconference with the Joint Chiefs of Staff in twenty minutes. Good luck and God Speed, SG-1.”

“Thank you, Sir.”

Four abreast, the team strode up the ramp into the wormhole’s shimmering event horizon and…

…barely a heartbeat later stepped out onto another world.

Right into the middle of some kind of celebration.

Where the MALP had previously shown a peaceful, deserted glade, now there were rough trestle tables set up around the edge, piled with food, while streamers, flowers, and ribbons decorated the trees, the Stargate, and even the MALP itself.

The clearing was a-buzz with excited chatter. People thronged everywhere, dressed in bright colours, festival clothes by the looks of it. Children raced around playing games, while older folk served food, but only a scattering of young adults were in evidence, among them a handful of nursing mothers…

SG-1 didn’t have long to take in the scene; almost immediately children were flocking around them, taking them by the hand and tugging them down the steps, towards a group of the oldest women, who beamed delightedly at them and draped flower garlands around their necks, seeming completely unconcerned by the presence of strangers in their gathering.

“Welcome, you who have passed through the Great Ring this Festival Day! Blessings be upon you all!” the very eldest of them, a toothless little old woman no more than five feet tall, exclaimed, offering them cups of clear liquid. “Drink and be blessed! Health, long life, and great joy!”

“Thank you.” Daniel took a cup and drank, urging the others to do the same. “It’s just water,” he murmured.

As soon as they’d handed the cups back, the children dragged them over to a pile of brightly coloured cushions, one of many scattered around at the edge of the trees, between the tables of food, and left them, only to return moments later with platters of fruit, bread, cold roast meats, and tiny cakes. Then they were gone again, running off to join the crowds of other children dancing around the Stargate but keeping at a safe distance.

“Well this is…” Daniel started.

“Odd,” O’Neill finished for him, poking at the food on one of the plates with the tip of his finger.

“I was going to say interesting.”

O’Neill waggled his hand, a dubious expression on his face. “I don’t know; could go either way.”

“They seem friendly enough,” Carter said, sampling a slice of fruit and licking the juice from her fingers before it could run down her arm.

“I’m… not sure you should be eating that.”

“We already drank the water, Sir.”

“Major Carter is correct; there would seem little point in refusing food since we have already accepted drink.”

“You say that now…”

Just then, the Stargate’s inner ring began to rotate.

“Uh oh.” The Colonel set aside his plate and took a firm grip on his P90, just in case. “Looks like more visitors.”

Daniel remained lounging against the cushions. “The natives don’t seem worried.”

“Yeah, well that’s not necessarily a good thing. They set this whole festival up for somebody, and it’s a safe bet it wasn’t for us. Could be the guests of honor are about to arrive.”

If Jack O’Neill was expecting Goa’uld brandishing weapons, what he got was a whole lot less threatening; one young man who looked to be in his early twenties, and two young women of approximately the same age. Just as SG-1 had been, they were pulled down the steps by another group of happy, laughing children and led before the smiling village elders, blessed and given water before being ushered to their own pile of cushions. By the time they were settled, all the other children were dancing around the Stargate again.

So it continued, with several more groups of people arriving through the gate in twos and threes and fours, and one group of six, two men and four women. Daniel was watching avidly, but a frown was slowly beginning to crease his forehead. “Uh, guys?” he said at last.

“What’s up?” Colonel O’Neill turned to the archaeologist.

“We may have a slight problem…”

“I thought you weren’t worried by any of this.” O’Neill waved one arm to indicate the happy people.

“Yeah… I’m not, only… I think this might be a wedding ceremony.”

“A wedding? That’s nice, I love a good wedding. So now the guests are here, are we waiting for the happy couple to arrive?” O’Neil sat up straighter and looked around at the gathering as if expecting a bride and groom to just pop up from somewhere.

“No, I think the happy couples, and triples, and so forth are already here…” The Great Ring began to spin again. “And looks like there are still a few more on their way…”

“Wait, you mean…” Carter broke off abruptly to chew on her bottom lip, a host of warring emotions flickering across her face.

“I’ve been listening, and from what I can make out, the men go through the Great Ring to… another planet I guess, they call it the place of purification. They spend… some time there, I’m not sure, maybe a few days, maybe longer. Then on this day, early in the morning, the girls follow, so that each couple or group can return through the ring together and… They drink the water, they’re blessed by the Elders, and that’s it.”

“But…” Jack O’Neill watched four people descend the steps and be blessed. “Didn’t we just do that?”

“Yeah….”

“We’re… married?”

“According to the conventions of this planet, yes.” Daniel nodded.

“All of us?” The Colonel was having a hard time getting his head around this.

Teal’c answered for Daniel. “So it would seem.”

“To each other?”

“It looks that way, Sir.” Carter managed a slightly apologetic smile.

“Just one big happy family, huh?”

“Well, if you think about it, we were already that, Sir. Just not in the… um… married way.” Carter trailed off lamely under Jack O’Neill’s raised eyebrow.

“Right. So it’s probably a good idea Hammond didn’t come with us.”

“Indeed,” Teal’c agreed.

They fell silent, watching three more groups pass through the Stargate and go through the rest of the brief ceremony, until Daniel finally broke the silence again.

“If it’s any consolation, I doubt it would be considered official back on earth.”

“Ya think?”

“I’m just saying. It’s not like we have to tell anyone, we can just say we were welcomed as guests…” He trailed off into silence again.

“So nobody else has to know we got accidentally… hitched?”

“I won’t tell if you don’t.”

“Carter?”

“Not a word, Sir.”

“T?”

“My lips are sealed.” Teal’c looked pointedly anywhere but at his commanding officer and teammates.

“So we’re agreed; this never happened?”

“We came, we met the natives, we helped them celebrate a big wedding, everyone was happy, we went home,” Daniel said firmly. “Which we should probably do as soon as the party breaks up. Just to avoid any more possible misunderstandings.”

“What if it doesn’t? Break up, I mean.”

“Ah. Well, then we could be in for a very awkward night.”


The End