Crossover: HL/SG-1 (roughly series 6 SG-1!verse, end series 3 HL!verse)

Characters: Daniel, O’Neill, Methos

For prompt: 081 Mountain

Summary: Methos’ first impressions of the SGC.

A/N: Fourth in yet another series of ficlets – and yet again I have no firm plans…

How could he refuse?

Even after five thousand and some years Methos never tried to pretend he had seen everything but aliens would certainly be something new. He didn’t like the idea of the US military knowing about what he was any more than he liked the idea of working for them, but Danny assured him that the SGC was not like the rest of the military: that there secret would be safe.

Methos still was not about to trust these people with any more than was necessary, but for Daniel’s sake, and for the sake of a lifetime or two of truly innovative study he was prepared to give them the benefit of the doubt.

It was only a handful of days after his initial briefing that the dig site was closed down. Apart from the one artefact that had caused all the interest in the first place, nothing of alien origin was found. Methos had tried to tell them that the one piece they had found (a strange metallic thing that went over the fingers and wrapped around the wrist) was used as a piece of royal jewellery and nothing more at the time when he knew the household, no matter what it was actually capable of. Still, the everything in the site was tested and re-tested enough for the air force to be sure that that was the only alien piece. It had meant every sarcophagus had to be checked, and while Elana’s was entrusted to him and Daniel to deal with privately, seeing her again opened old wounds that were better left buried in the sand.

When that was done all that was left was to pack up and head back to the SGC…

Cheyenne Mountain complex…as he was given the tour by an excitable Daniel and a long-suffering O’Neill, Methos truly came to appreciate what it meant to be in a modern military installation: utter boredom. The drab slightly green-grey walls the same in every corridor, every single person he saw with the same uniform, same haircut, same blank expression; he felt like he could feel the weight of the mountain on top of him. The only interesting moment was when O’Neill tried to explain to his CO why he had let swords into his base. O’Neill truly did have a way with words, a keen military intellect hidden under masterfully feigned ignorance. It was almost possible to forget that this man had spent years on clandestine “special” operations with his jovial nature. Still, Methos felt that they understood each other as they shared another glance over Daniel’s head, rolling eyes in a way that anyone who had seen Daniel on a roll would be familiar with.

As Methos looked around the control room, the final stop on their tour, only to see a hundred little flashing lights and buttons that could mean anything, being tended to by yet more cookie cutter soldiers he found himself wondering whether he had made the right decision. I mean sure there was some interesting research going on, aliens and ancient history in a mixture that amused him, but was it really worth coming every day to this drab, spartan, military place every day, where the closest thing to fun was jello in the cafeteria?

“SG-4 are ready to disembark sir,” one of the drones at a computer announced.

Daniel grabbed his arm, pulling him over to the window where he could get a perfect view of a large ring of rather ordinary-looking stone. “You’ll want to see this.”

“You have a go.” Someone said with what Methos thought was a terrible attempt at English.

“Chevron one engaged…”

The ring was spinning now, steam coming off in little puffs where a whole load of machinery was in place to each side of it as the annoying man at the computer when on counting off chevrons (whatever they were). Intrigued, Methos stepped forward, wondering just what you would see through a Stargate, but not overly hopeful: in his experience he had found that new gadgets always ended up being a big let down…

“Chevron seven locked.”

…

Methos thought maybe he had found something worth staying for after all…