SG-1 Fic: Choices

[cat_77]

 

I wrote this in response to the recent plagiarism scandal going on in the Stargate universe.  There is a person going around under the name NightStrider25 in many groups taking stories, artwork, and vids from other creators and claiming them as her own.  The issue has been addressed many times, and several of her sites have been shut down, but she still continues to claim others' work as her own and deletes any comments pointing out who’s work it actually is.  Needless to say, this is becoming an issue.

 

Title:  Choices

Genre:  SG-1, Gen, Episode Related

Rating:  PG-13

Synopsis:  There are certain things you just don’t do. 

Disclaimer:  I don’t own them, people with a lot of money do.  I am borrowing the characters in a solely not-for-profit way to make a point.  Situation: mine.  Characters: theirs.

 

~~~~~~~~~~

 

Jack was truly surprised at the language spewing forth from a certain linguist’s mouth.  He did not object to the profanity, but was rather accustomed to it coming from him and not his usually much quieter friend.  “Problem?” he asked mildly, knowing he was understating the issue.

 

“That... that slime!” Daniel continued, moving into the safer realms of invectives.

 

“Any slime in particular?” Jack prodded.

 

“Raynor,” the other man spat as if that word was the foulest. 

 

“Oh, that slime.”  O’Neill had several other words for the man, but it appeared they had all been covered at this point.  “What did he do now?”

 

“This,” was all the irate man would say, shoving his laptop across the table, trusting Jack to catch it safely.

 

Jack read the email, which seemed harmless at first, “’Dear Dr. Jackson, I thought you may be interested in this article, it’s getting a lot of attention right now.’  That doesn’t sound too bad.”

 

“Click the link,” the linguist growled.

 

Jack did as directed, waited for the page to load, and taking in the site with trepidation.  “Er, Daniel, this looks a lot like...”

 

“My research?  Yeah, there’s a reason for that,” he replied, voice full of venom.  “You might notice a few things from Sarah as well,” he added, knowing the team had read up on her work after the Osiris incident.

 

“How did he...” Jack began, only to be cut off.

 

“Sarah and I had been working together trying to figure out the Isis and Osiris translations.  We used her computer, and I had to use some SGC research as well – don’t worry, it was all cleared by General Hammond.  With Sarah’s ‘disappearance’ Raynor is the ranking researcher for the department and has access to all of her files,” Daniel replied.

 

“But shouldn’t he...”

 

“Be citing it as her work, not to mention my own?” the researcher supplied.  “I asked him about that and his response, you’ll love this, was that he thought he deserved something after all he went through and with ‘Dr. Gardner’s untimely kidnapping’ and my working ‘solely for government interests’ he thought this was fair repayment.”

 

Jack’s eyebrows went up before a thoughtful look crossed his face, finally settling his features into a smirk.  “Did you happen to get that in writing?”

 

Daniel was confused, but willing to play along for now.  “Yeah, it’s in the second email he sent me,” he replied.

 

“Well, Danny boy, it looks like this Raynor fellow just signed his own warrant.”

 

~~~~~~~~~~

 

Daniel was having a nice, quiet afternoon for a change when he got the call from Sam.  It had been a hectic few weeks, but there was nothing urgent going on at the base that he knew of, so the sudden excitement was unexpected.

 

“Good, you’re there!” Carter enthused.  “Go turn on your t.v., channel 11 has the best coverage.  If you don’t have one, give me five minutes to get some streaming video set up for you on a site.  This you don’t want to miss!”

 

“What’s going on?” he asked, smacking his ancient television when it did not want to work right away.

 

“Let’s just say a certain Doctor Raynor is getting what’s coming to him,” was all his teammate would say, the glee obvious in her voice.  He had known she had been involved in whatever Jack had planned, but did not realize just how passionate she had been about the whole thing.

 

He watched in awe as not only was his former co-worker discredited, but was arrested for selling government secrets.  He did not know whether he should feel sorry for the guy, or cheer.

 

His phone rang off the hook for the rest of the day, various friends checking in the see if he had heard the news.  The most memorable part was when Major Davis called that afternoon.  “Are you sure we didn’t go a bit overboard?” Daniel had asked.

 

“In my official position as liaison with the SGC, I can assure you, Doctor Jackson, that the appropriate steps were taken to prevent a leak in security,” Davis had replied.  “As your friend, I can tell you he deserved more, Daniel, and that this is just the tip of the iceberg if you let us have our way.”

 

“I don’t want him hurt,” Daniel warned.  “He’s an ass, but we were friends once, and he did get the crap beat out of him because of my research.”

 

“Don’t worry,” Paul assured him.  “He’s simply being given a few choices right now.”

 

“Such as?”

 

“He can either publicly discredit his work, be arrested for treason, or come work for the SGC with you as his boss,” Davis explained, not bothering to hide the smugness in his tone.

 

“Jack would make his life a living hell,” Daniel said, voicing the first thought that came to mind.

 

“As would half the SGC,” Paul agreed.  “But, it’s better than prison or being fully discredited in the eyes of the academic world.  Right now, only his latest paper is toast.  If he doesn’t back down, all of his work will be put under scrutiny.  If even once source isn’t cited properly, he’s gone.”

 

“Isn’t that a little...”

 

“Extreme?” Davis guessed, waiting for the affirmation.  “It’s less than Colonel O’Neill originally suggested, but more than your standard plagiarist would get.”

 

Daniel snorted, imagining what his friend and team leader had suggested.  “So, in effect, we are destroying Raynor’s life for this,” he summed it up.

 

“Not destroying, just teaching a lesson,” Paul insisted.  “What it boils down to is this:  The SGC is a family and we look out for each other, plain and simple.”

 

Daniel doubted it was that simple, but was willing to go along with it for now.  The choice was Raynor’s.  He had brought this upon himself and now needed to face the consequences. 

 

After a day of talking to his co-workers, to his adopted ‘family’ about this, he refused to feel guilty.  Whatever happened, it would be Steven’s choice.  He had chosen to steal the research, and now he needed to choose how to make it right.  As for Daniel, he was just going to sit back and watch the show.

 

 

End.

 

~~~~~~~~~~