Welcome the Geek (Fanfiction Excerpt/Roleplay Starter)

Foreword: This scene is an excerpt from an unpublished and untitled Stargate SG-1 fanfiction that I am currently writing, which centers around my fan-made character, Mayleen Al-Khatib, whom this book is about. This is only an excerpt, but there will be some background explained after this foreword and within the excerpt. I do not own Stargate SG-1 or any character in this excerpt besides my character, Mayleen Al-Khatib, Mayleen's mother, Layla Habib, Mayleen's father, Omar Al-Khatib, and Mayleen's late lover, Caspian Mousavi. I do not own the Egyptian Goddess, Hathor, but the characterization of her in this excerpt is my own and based on what is known about her in Egyptian mythology. This excerpt takes place during season seven of the television show, slightly before the events of the eighth episode, “Space Race.” This can also serve as a roleplay starter.

Background: Mayleen Al-Khatib was a successful paleoarcheologist, following in the footsteps of her parents. When she met a young man named Caspian in Egypt, everything changed. She discovered that he was an avatar for the Egyptian Goddess, Ma'at, and throughout Mayleen’s time with Caspian, they fell in love. When he supposedly died at the hands of the Goddess, Mayleen ran away and was too traumatized to continue her career. Ma'at's return, not a year later, somehow led to the deaths of Mayleen's parents and her transformation into an avatar. She went to the only people she had left: her parents' archaeology partners, Melburne and Claire Jackson. Instead, she found their son, Daniel Jackson, who informed her that his parents had died long ago.
Now, Mayleen's only option is to follow Daniel to a military base called Stargate Command, in hopes of freeing herself from Ma'at's psychological and emotional presence.

Welcome The Geek
an excerpt from an untitled Stargate SG-1 Fanfiction
by Layla (where_the_fun_begins)

The Stargate Command Center was even more advanced than Mayleen expected. Of course the stargate was what caught her eye when she first came in. She couldn’t not notice the giant blue portal-like light that shone as she walked in. A small group of people dressed in military gear walked through. They all looked like they had been through Hell. Literally. Their uniforms were stained with what seemed to be black soot and their faces were flushed red.
Her heart clenched with sympathy for them.

At the front was a man with graying hair, who turned around to speak to the blonde woman and the tall Jaffa man behind him. “I would consider that a success.” He grinned.
Mayleen couldn’t tell if he was being genuine or sarcastic.
The blonde woman looked disappointed and amused at the same time. “Sir, we almost died.”
The graying man, ever positive, said, “Key word: Almost.”
“Indeed,” the Jaffa man said.
Mayleen suddenly felt like she was intruding on a very private moment between close friends. She didn’t want to be there anyway. She wished that there weren’t so many people around.

Daniel leaned down so that he could speak to her in a quieter tone. “I already spoke to General Hammond about your situation.”

Her heart leapt into her throat. More people knew. That didn’t comfort her at all. She looked up at Daniel rather abruptly.
She didn’t realize how close he was until then.
Blue.
His eyes were very blue.

He seemed to realize their proximity, too, because he made something of a shocked squeaky noise with his mouth and took a step back. “Sorry.” He took his glasses off and cleaned them off with his end of his shirt without looking at her. “Sorry. Uh…”. He stuttered for a moment. “I-I-I mean, I had to let him know a little bit. It’s why I was able to take you here.” He put his glasses back on and looked at her again. “I promise I didn’t make a big deal out of it. I’m just required to let him know about any guests here and I wanted to make sure that he treated you kindly.”

She wanted to tell him ‘thank you’, but her mouth was dry and she couldn’t find the energy to speak. She was afraid that something wrong might come out. That Ma'at might take control again and ruin everything. So, Mayleen just nodded. She hoped that was enough to reassure him.

He didn’t seem to mind her silence much. His friendly demeanor didn’t change. “I can take you to meet the general right now if you’d like. Or you can get acquainted with the others. I-If you want.”

Before she could answer, the three soldiers approach her on their own.

“Is this the avatar who General Hammond was referring to?” the Jaffa asked.

She didn’t have the energy to be upset.

Daniel, however, seemed agitated on her behalf. “She has a name.”

“My apologies.” The Jaffa turned to look at her. He wore a very stoic expression, but it was not intimidating in the slightest. “I am Teal’c. These are my friends and teammates, Jack ‘O’ Neal and Samantha Carter.” He gestured toward the gray-haired man and the blonde woman, who both waved and offered her friendly smiles.

“You can just call me Sam,” the blonde woman, Samantha, said. “What’s your name?”

Mayleen didn’t have the energy to speak.

“Will you excuse us?” Daniel asked. He took her aside and spoke in a soft, regretful tone. “I’m sorry. We came at a time when it’s kinda crowded. You don’t have to talk to them. I can just take you to General Hammond now if you want.”

Before she could try to answer, she heard an unfamiliar voice speak from afar. “What kind of language is this?”

She turned around to see a short bald man behind the console of the stargate trying to decipher something on the screen.

“That’s him, right there, actually,” Daniel said, pointing at the bald man.

“Dr. Jackson, can you help us please?” Hammond asked, looking up at Daniel. He nodded in Mayleen’s direction. “Welcome, ma’am. You must be Ms. Mayleen Al-Khatib. You can just sit tight. I’ll be with you in a moment.”

She did as she was told. She didn’t see any chairs nearby, so she just sat on the floor with her legs crossed. The coldness of the tile was oddly satisfying. It was nice to feel something real that wasn’t a divine presence.

Daniel’s eyes widened. He looked mortified. “Oh jeez. I’m sorry. Gimme a minute.” He walked off very quickly.

She couldn’t, for the life of her, figure out why he did that, but she also couldn’t bring herself to care.

“Where did he go?” Hammond asked.

One of the workers beside him only shrugged.

Daniel came back a few moments later, carrying an office chair and sitting it down beside Mayleen. “Got this from my office. Just so you don’t have to sit on the floor while you wait.”

She finally managed a very faint smile, but she still couldn’t bring herself to speak. She managed to stand on her feet though.

He held his hand out. “Do you need-?”

She sat down on the seat.

He shoved his hands in his pockets, embarrassed. “Okay. That’s good.”

She gave him another faint, thin-lipped smile. She really wanted to be more cheerful, but it wasn’t in her.

“All right.” He pursed his lips and pushed his glasses further up on the bridge of his nose. “I have to go, but let us know if you need anything else.” He clasped his hands together and turned around, heading over to the table where Hammond was.

She looked around at her surroundings. Being in a technologically-advanced military base would have frightened her a few years ago, but it was nothing compared to what she had seen now. Still, she was very impressed by the technology and how well everyone seemed to work together. The stargate in particular was what interested her. What would it be like to go through there with no set location? Just see where she ended up? Maybe she would be transported into nothingness. Maybe she wouldn’t have to face this pain anymore. She wanted to get lost in her thoughts, but she couldn’t. Not really. There was too much going on around her. With all the voices, Mayleen still couldn’t hear Ma'at’s voice in her head. It was actually quite frustrating. It seemed as though Aphrodite came into Mayleen’s life to ruin the most important parts of it and only show up to make her feel hopeless during the times she needed to have the most hope. If this was what being a paleoarchaeologist was, she really didn’t want any part of it. That was why she quit after Caspian died.

Daniel seemed pretty happy about his job, though, and he lost his parents because of an archaeology dig. She wondered how he managed to stay so positive. I’ll have whatever he’s on, she thought. He definitely wasn’t on drugs. Drugged on his own happiness and tenacity, maybe. She didn’t know if she’d ever have those again.

“It’s an ancient Arabic dialect, but it’s not Egyptian,” Daniel was saying, as he tried to decipher whatever Hammond asked him to translate. “It’s definitely not something I’ve studied before.”

She didn’t know why, but she suddenly felt compelled to stand up and walk over there to see what they were looking at. She stood behind Daniel and tried to peer over his shoulder before she realized that he was too tall.

“Maybe it’s Aramaic,” Daniel hypothesized.

She moved to Hammond’s side. He was much shorter, so she was able to peer over at the screen easily. She knew exactly what the language was. “Nabatean Aramaic.” She could feel all eyes on her, but she was so focused on the words that she didn’t care. “This is Nabatean Aramaic. The Nabateans were an ancient Arab people who inhabited North Arabia and southern Levant.”

“That borders a few countries, like Jordan,” Daniel chimed in.

She looked up at him and nodded, unable to hide her enthusiasm. “Exactly.” She knew something. She was still useful.

He seemed as excited as she was and eager for her to continue.

“The symbols in between the words aren’t anything human-like, though,” she said, looking back down at the screen. “It seems almost…pre-historic alien.” She looked up at him again. “I don’t specialize in that, but if you’re trying to figure out what this means, studying the Nabateans might be your best bet.”

Daniel smiled at her. She couldn’t tell if he was happy that she had solved the problem or what, but he was beaming.

“Looks like Daniel’s not the only geek around here anymore,” Jack said.

She looked at him, trying to read his expression. She couldn’t tell if he was teasing her or not, even when he smiled at her.

He pat her on the shoulder. “Welcome to Stargate Command. You’re gonna fit in just fine here.”

Author's Note: I had so much fun writing this, but the formatting and spacing is weird when I copy and paste on Wattpad. If this all looks like one long paragraph, it's just how Wattpad formatting is. I made indents when I was typing on the computer. They're just small on here.

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