Stargate SG-1 Ficlet: Frustration
Sep. 26th, 2025 06:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
badly_knittedTitle: Frustration
Fandom: Stargate SG-1
Author:
badly_knittedCharacters: Daniel Jackson, Jack O’Neill, Anise, SG-1.
Rating: PG
Word Count: 551
Spoilers: Upgrades.
Summary: Jack’s armband seems to be taking effect, so why isn’t Daniel’s?
Written For: The prompt ‘any, any, flicking through the pages of a book’, at
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threesentenceficathon.Disclaimer: I don’t own Stargate SG-1, or the characters.
The armbands are supposed to enhance both physical and mental abilities, making the members of SG-1 stronger, faster, more agile, just better in every possible way, and who wouldn’t want that kind of advantage if they actually work? It could help turn the tide in the battle against the Goa’uld. At the very least, it would enable SG-1, and other SG teams, to carry out dangerous missions with less risk to themselves.
There may have been some misgivings when the Tok’ra Anise first suggested testing the Atanik devices on the team, but surely the possible benefits must outweigh any potential risks… That is, if the armbands can actually be made to work on humans.
Daniel hasn’t felt any different since one was put on his arm, but maybe it takes a while before the effects start to kick in. That’s what he’s been telling himself anyway, to deal with the twinges of disappointment at the lack of superpowers. He’d even been willing to accept that humans simply aren’t compatible with Atanik technology. Until now.
Watching Jack flip through the pages of one of the books on the desk, apparently speedreading his way through the massive tome, Daniel can’t help feeling frustrated, envious, annoyed, and maybe a little impressed. Well, actually a lot impressed really; to read that fast, and take everything in, would be the most useful ability he can think of. He could carry his entire library of reference volumes in his head at all times, never have to look anything up to check facts ever again, but… Maybe his own armband is defective, or Anise put it on him backwards, because he can still only read at his usual pace, and that would be fine under normal circumstances, but he hates knowing that the rest of the team are once again leaving him in their dust.
He’s not like them, and that’s seldom been clearer than it is right at this moment. What if the armband has decided he’s unworthy, not the right kind of person to benefit from the physical enhancements Anise described? He’s an academic, not a soldier, or a warrior, and maybe this just proves that Jack’s right when he jokes about Daniel being a geek, if it even IS a joke, which can be hard to tell when it comes to Jack O’Neill. It could just as easily be meant as an insult, not that Daniel would ever take it as such, because he’s pretty sure he and Jack are friends by now.
Still, watching Jack and Sam apparently gaining superpowers while he just… isn’t, at least not yet, makes him feel even more that he’s the odd one out, when all he really wants is to be considered a valued member of the team. Someone good for more than simply poking around in ruins and occasionally translating stuff. It’s not that he doesn’t fit in with his teammates. It’s not that he thinks they look down on him, because he doesn’t, but he’d like to know the rest of the SGC personal, especially the other team leaders, see him as more than Jack O’Neill’s tame geek. Well, that and maybe to be able to read an entire book in less than thirty seconds the way Jack just did.
Why won’t his own armband work?
The End
There may have been some misgivings when the Tok’ra Anise first suggested testing the Atanik devices on the team, but surely the possible benefits must outweigh any potential risks… That is, if the armbands can actually be made to work on humans.
Daniel hasn’t felt any different since one was put on his arm, but maybe it takes a while before the effects start to kick in. That’s what he’s been telling himself anyway, to deal with the twinges of disappointment at the lack of superpowers. He’d even been willing to accept that humans simply aren’t compatible with Atanik technology. Until now.
Watching Jack flip through the pages of one of the books on the desk, apparently speedreading his way through the massive tome, Daniel can’t help feeling frustrated, envious, annoyed, and maybe a little impressed. Well, actually a lot impressed really; to read that fast, and take everything in, would be the most useful ability he can think of. He could carry his entire library of reference volumes in his head at all times, never have to look anything up to check facts ever again, but… Maybe his own armband is defective, or Anise put it on him backwards, because he can still only read at his usual pace, and that would be fine under normal circumstances, but he hates knowing that the rest of the team are once again leaving him in their dust.
He’s not like them, and that’s seldom been clearer than it is right at this moment. What if the armband has decided he’s unworthy, not the right kind of person to benefit from the physical enhancements Anise described? He’s an academic, not a soldier, or a warrior, and maybe this just proves that Jack’s right when he jokes about Daniel being a geek, if it even IS a joke, which can be hard to tell when it comes to Jack O’Neill. It could just as easily be meant as an insult, not that Daniel would ever take it as such, because he’s pretty sure he and Jack are friends by now.
Still, watching Jack and Sam apparently gaining superpowers while he just… isn’t, at least not yet, makes him feel even more that he’s the odd one out, when all he really wants is to be considered a valued member of the team. Someone good for more than simply poking around in ruins and occasionally translating stuff. It’s not that he doesn’t fit in with his teammates. It’s not that he thinks they look down on him, because he doesn’t, but he’d like to know the rest of the SGC personal, especially the other team leaders, see him as more than Jack O’Neill’s tame geek. Well, that and maybe to be able to read an entire book in less than thirty seconds the way Jack just did.
Why won’t his own armband work?
The End
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Date: 2025-09-26 11:20 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2025-09-27 10:01 am (UTC)Thank you!