XSGCOM

XSGCOM is a Crossover / Alternate Universe Fic with Stargate and X-COM written by Hotpoint. It explores an alternate universe where humanity is actually better off than in either main universe. Instead of the Russians finding about the second stargate, X-COM retrieves it. After both organizations become known to each other, they are merged together. What follows is a clash between two factions, one Badass Canadian, Earth moving to the offense and lots of dead Jaffa. The two settings involved are neatly tied together with, for example, Elerium being made from Naquadah, though the process involved is unknown to Earth. The author provides any necessary background info in his chapter notes, including hyperlinks.

Contains two parts to date:

1) XSGCOM: Goa'uld Defence (alternatively subtitled Mirror Image on FF.Net) follows events from the aftermath of the second stargate's retrieval to the finding of the Ancient Outpost in Antarctica.

2) XSGCOM: Terra from the Deep follows the Atlantis Expedition and its war against Wraith and ongoing events in the Milky Way.


Can be read here. Fanfiction.net link: here for Mirror Image, and Here for Terra From The Deep.

We have a page for Shout-Outs.

This series contains following tropes:

  • Actor Allusion: One chapter has Heimdall taking the place of Janet Frasier, both of whom have the same (voice) actress.
  • Adam Smith Hates Your Guts: Invoked by McKay when trying to buy food from Genii.

Sheppard sighed. 'I thought you said the Genii were fair traders?' he asked Teyla.
'The Athosians have always been able to achieve a reasonable bargain' Teyla replied, 'however we were never so desperate to buy' she noted.
'The invisible hand of the free market strikes again' McKay quipped. 'Three million light-years from the nearest copy of the Wealth of Nations and Adam Smith still has us by the balls' he said.

  • The Alliance: The Alliance Of Four races in past, United Worlds in current timeline.
  • Alternate Universe: caused by Loki creating the Sectoids, leading to the creation of X-COM.
  • Armor Is Useless: Averted. Getting better armour has helped survival rates, and Kull are terrifying partly because they need multiple Heavy Plasma shots, THE biggest infantry gun around, to kill.
  • Ascended Extra: Lots of people. As just one example, Sharp was originally a throwaway reference in a manual.
  • Attack Its Weak Point: If they can't shoot it down the normal way, X-COM loves to beam aboard nuclear weapons
  • Awakening the Sleeping Giant: After the Tau'ri give some advice to the Tollan, even Anubis keeps his distance. The Wraith learn hard way that they don't want the Tollan in their galaxy.
    • Also what happens when X-COM blows up a quarter of the Wraith in the galaxy. Here come the Aquatoids...
  • Ax Crazy: Parodied. "When the guys in charge of X-COM think you’re too nuts to be on a UFO Retrieval Team, then you’ve got some serious issues."
  • Badass: Anyone in X-COM. A large part of SG teams as well.
  • Bad Future: Why the Aschen are so willing to work with other races- in the original timeline, they released a Depopulation Bomb against Earth so that they could take the technology and Earth as a colony world. X-COM responded by sending the first of their BC-305 ships to the Aschen Homeworld with ZPM-enhanced Asgard weapons, and destroys a very large fraction of the planet. The Aschen used the time-travel glitch on the Stargate to send a message back in time to warn them against doing this: "Under no circumstances provoke X-COM." Also serves as a nice Continuity Nod to the SG-1 episodes "2010" and "2001."
  • Boxed Crook: Nirrti.
    • Also, the Aschen. Even though they're part of the alliance, nobody trusts them and they aren't granted the same technological items that others are.
  • Brick Joke: Back in Chapter 8 of Daniel said that ‘the Cult of Osiris isn’t coming’. Guess what the foundations for have been laid in Chapter 37?
    • In Chapter 31 of Defense inhabitants of Jebanna were told about "Sharp of Canada". Guess who came in person in Chapter 1 of Terra?
    • A little girl who was listening to Maybourne the first time even comes up and brings up the "Hockey Stick" joke.
    • Way, way, way back in chapter one of Goa'uld Defense, an X-COM member states that if X-COM was a company, he would buy stock in it. By Terra From The Deep, X-COM has founded their own company called MarSec, which sells X-COM tech to Earth's offworld allies.
    • Samantha Carter mentions that she would need to see evidence of psionics in a carefully controlled laboratory situations before she believed it. By the end of Goa'uld Defense, Samantha was the first to witness Cassie actually lifting chess pieces with her mind.
  • Bunny Ears Lawyer: Andianov comments that O'Niell is the most inexplicably effective commanding officer she has ever had, after he came up with the idea of publicly humiliating the Goa'uld to ruin their image as an excuse for playing practical jokes on them.
  • But I Can't Be Pregnant: Doctor Frasier and Commander Sharp are quite surprised to learn that sarcopghus can fix vasectomy...
  • Call a Rabbit a Smeerp: "Like the Casa Gruel in the story of Draxius Kol and the Three Unas?" Though this one came first and the names were changed when it got to Earth, making it not quite a straight use[1].
  • Car Fu: The first Kull Warrior is taken out partly by a hovertank running it over.
  • Chunky Salsa Rule: Once X-COM starts making its own Sarcophagi, this is one of the few things that you can't be brought back from.
  • Colonel Badass
  • Cool Ship: While the upgrades that the author makes to canon ships are quite impressive, the BC-305 in an alternate timeline where the Aschen wiped out a fair portion of Earth's population bears special mention: Zero Point Module enhanced, Asgard supplied weapons are the only mentioned weapon that these things have, but knowing X-COM, it probably has way more. The rest of the Tau'ri fleet is stated to be off in another galaxy, fighting the Ori.
  • Crazy Prepared: the X-COM operated Omega Site. The Stargate protected by both a force field and an iris, preventing people from coming through. The Omega Site is not on the main Stargate Network, so you can only get their if you know how to dial the Tollan-designed Stargate. The Stargate itself is in a pit that rises up to ground level once scanners have confirmed that you are, in fact, who you say you are. Finally, the top of the pit can be sealed with a force field so that X-COM can drop grenades, boiling liquid, or heavier-than-air nerve gas on you.
  • Creating Life: Out of all the protagonist species in the story so far, only a few are not stated to not have been created by another life form: The Nox, Unas, the Ancients (and by that extension, the Ori), Goa'uld, the Serrikin, and the Aquatoids. The Ancients created the Pegasus Replicators and the human race, which created Reese and the Replicators, while the Aquatoids made the Ohnes, Gadmeer, the Wraith, and the Asgard. The Sectoids were created by Loki, an Asgard.
  • Curb Stomp Battle: until Anubis arrives this is pretty much how every ground battle between the Goa'uld and X-COM goes. Horribly subverted against Loki and the Sectoids. Just when you think humans are getting the upper hand, there is something new.
  • Dangerously Genre Savvy: Pretty much the reason why X-COM keeps kicking so much ass. See More Dakka. The Kull also show this by headshotting any downed troops nearby so a sarcophagus can't resurrect them.
  • Depopulation Bomb: The Aschen try to unleash one on Earth in a Bad Future. It doesn't go well.
  • Death Is Cheap: Well, at least after they figure out how to operate and build sarcophagi.
    • And even then it's more like "Death is Cheaper," as there are some things the sarcophagus cannot bring you back from- headshots, total vaporization, or enough damage, and even the near-magical device can't bring you back.
      • There are also other flaws in the sarcophagus design- if you use it too much, too often, you will begin to show signs of sanity slippage (and consider how marginal the sanity of most X-COM troops is to begin with), which at times makes helping people more difficult. They nearly let Egeria die because of the fear of what such prolonged exposure to the sarcophagus would do to her. Also, Sarcophagi are really expensive to build.
  • Death World: Parodied when Canada, Eh? is described as one. ‘They say [Sharp's] homeland is a frozen wasteland where the icy wind would cut you to the bone and where water only ever falls as snow, like it does here upon the mountaintops yonder... It is said the forests there are full of ferocious beasts with huge teeth and claws called bears, and that you must prove yourself worthy by defeating one with a traditional weapon of his tribe they call a hockey stick’
  • Destructive Savior: X-Com, of course. Best summarized here:

O'Neill: We are gonna kick so much Goa'uld ass.
Carter: We are gonna destroy so much of the galaxy in the next few years...

  • The Dreaded: Sharp aspires to be this for aliens.
  • Drop Ship: Avengers. Which can also serve as heavy fire support.
    • In Terra From The Deep, it's stated that the Orbanians are working on a version that can fit through the stargate.
  • Energy Weapon
  • Enemy Civil War: See "Evil vs. Evil" below.
  • Even Evil Has Standards: Anubis thinks that Loki's plan to be accepted back as the savior of his race is delusional. And this from the man who wishes to eradicate all life in the galaxy.
  • Evil Lawyer Joke: Some of the Tollan remark that they have similar opinion of Lawyers on their world (called "Archons"), and relate a story about two Unas. "One came upon the other, who was eating dung. 'Why are you doing that?' asked the first. 'I just ate an archon, and I'm trying to get the taste out of my mouth,' says the second."
  • Eviler Than Thou: Although Anubis and Loki work together to further their own ends, they loathe each other on a personal level. Loki considers Anubis a pointlessly malevolent psychopath, and Anubis thinks Loki is a hypocrite because of the methods he is willing to use to save his people.
  • Evil vs. Evil: Anubis vs. Apophis, Loki vs. The Replicators, Loki and Anubis vs. The Replicators, Loki vs. Apophis, and given how fluid the situation in the Milky Way is becoming, these are all likely to go into the blender and hit "Liquify," relatively quickly.
    • It's implied in the future that the Aschen will be extremely helpful in the fight against the Ori.
    • Part of X-COM and the Alliance's strategy for beating the Goa'uld involves keeping them fighting each other until the Alliance is strong enough to handle them on their own.
  • The Federation:

Weir: 'You mean other than me trying to explain to the UN and the IOA that not only have I gotten us involved in another major war as an official ally of the High Council of the System Lords but that somehow I've accidentally turned Earth into an imperial power that rules over a quarter-million stars?'

  • Fix Fic: The author isn't afraid to correct what he sees as problems with the canon. Usually (see In Spite of a Nail below.)
  • Foreshadowing: The Aschen are implied to be of massive help against the engineered plagues of the Ori.
    • Several potent X-COM weapons, such as Power Armor, are talked about in earlier chapters, but become reality later.
    • Carter and another scientist at a Russian base lament that there has to be somewhere for Rodney McKay in the universe, but that as long as there's hyperdrives and Stargates, anywhere in the Milky Way isn't far enough away.
  • Forgotten Superweapon: Subverted and averted HARD. If the Stargate 'verse has left something behind, then the author usually comes along with X-COM teams to pick it back up, brush it off, reverse engineer it, and make the humans even meaner. Case in point? They start reverse engineering Sarcophogi as soon as they can, for starters...
  • Frickin' Laser Beams: X-COM already has laser weapons by the start. While they get even more powerful plasma after some time, lasers are kept around for softer targets and being able to freely draw from Powered Armour reactors.
    • Later, X-COM makes money by selling their earlier, less advanced laser weapons to their allies.
  • Four-Star Badass: Commander Sharp. You can't get much more bad ass.
  • Gatling Good: Staffs mounted in a rotary configuration.
    • Then improved upon when they decide to make the "Rippers." These are six staff cannons arranged in a similar manner.
    • Then gatling plasma repeaters, the ones the Kull use, and gatling shotguns!
  • Godzilla Threshold: The Tau'ri have some... decisive last-ditch "fuck yous" planned if things really go wrong. Things like strategic WMD on Goa'uld worlds and letting the Aschen get their hands on hyperdrives. They also hope that the Tollan will introduce the Goa'uld to UFT bombs.
  • Gondor Calls for Aid: In Chapter 48 Langaran goverments request help from Earth to fight against Loki's invasion. Earth forwards message to Optricans, Pangar, Tagrea, Orban, Tollan... pretty much every human world that can help as well as Asgard. It sets up major Moment of Awesome when they all appear to help.
  • Gratuitous Russian: Lyudmila Andianov. It's generally well researched, but sometimes she is saying Chert Voz'mi in the middle of a heated battle.
  • Gravity Is a Harsh Mistress: One of the things done with transporters is beaming Sectoid engines out of their craft, resulting in them doing Wile E. Coyote impressions. This is actually known as the Wile E. Coyote maneuver.
  • Half-Human Hybrid: Parodied with O'Neill making a joke about Earth demanding child support for the Sectoids.
  • Hidden Depths: Commander Sharp knowing Latin.
  • Hoist by His Own Petard: Cassie gets a Wraith Queen to suck life from herself.
    • X-COM and Alliance forces start getting their own taste of it once Apophis starts outfitting his troops with zat-proof armor, staff rifles, gate-travel capable vehicles, and tactics clearly inspired by the successes that the Tau'ri/X-COM/SGC have enjoyed.
    • To a much lesser degree, Loki, as it's his technology that's given X-COM such a huge boost in technological ability. He openly states in Terra From The Deep, that the reason why he's bringing the Type 4 fighters into production when the Type 3 were capable of curbstomping the most advanced human fighters is because "If I do not maintain such a large technological gap, I fear one day I will wake up strapped to a table facing smiling scientists with scalpels and mind probes."
  • Hold Your Hippogriffs: "My hydraulic pump leaks for you, really it does."
  • Hollywood Tactics: Subverted by the Goa'uld as time goes by, with them learning to use supporting fire and ambushes more effectively. Several characters lament this.
  • Humans Are Warriors: See the Proud Warrior Race Guy entry below for more details.
  • Hypocritical Humor: The captain of the Redemption degrades boxing and calls the people of earth "A race of thugs." Seconds later, he screams for his crew to "Kill that prick (One of Loki's ships)."
  • I Did What I Had to Do: X-Com mentality when it comes to Mind Rape, torture and other nasty things they do.
  • If I Wanted You Dead...: An initial argument against the Asgard and Sectoids being the same was that the latter would not have to come down to Terra and use infantry if they had the former's tech. In a later, separate incident...

"Commander, according to the results of the investigation you agreed to while under the za'tarc detector you were more annoyed at the implication that if you had been responsible there would have been any live witnesses left behind than you were the accusation you were guilty of carrying out the attack."
"I objected to the implication I'm some kind of blundering amateur."

  • Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy: Loyalist Jaffa, in spades. Their aim gets much better much later when they start copying the new staff rifles the humans give the Free Jaffa.
  • Implacable Man: Kull Warriors are still tough nuts even with X-COM armour and weapons.
  • I Need a Freaking Drink: O'Niell has this reaction when he finds out that Loki is offering to ally with Earth to fight the Replicators.
  • In Soviet Russia, Trope Mocks You: Made as a joke by Adianov.
  • In Spite of a Nail: Some things like Fifth being left behind with the other human-form Replicators or Anubis getting all the Eyes for his superweapon and destroying Abydos still occur despite the changes.
  • Incredibly Lame Pun: ‘The best defence is a good Ha’tak’ (Made by... Teal'c, who else?)
  • It Got Worse: Enhanced by Stargate tech, X-COM starts winning battles. Then, the Sectoids get a massive power boost. While Earth is adjusting to that, Apophis and Anubis start showing up and unifying the System Lords. Once Apophis is gone, the Replicators start to show up, while Loki's Sectoid forces grow more advanced. While the Wraith are pushovers, the Aquatoids that show up are known to capture people and use their parts as pieces of their ships and organic technology. All while Earth is just barely keeping up with the influx of enemies and technology. The worst is still yet to come, though, as the biggest baddies in the Stargate series, the Ori, haven't even shown up yet but are still on the horizon. The whole series is like one big struggle between Lensman Arms Race and It Got Worse, with the race making things better, while the worsening seeks to keep how bad things are in stasis, good-bad wise.
  • I Think You Broke Him

"It can't be true" Weir said to herself quietly, "we can't just be the leftover war-toys of some precursor civilization" she tried to convince herself before a thought occurred and she suddenly stood up and thumped her clenched fists down on the conference table. "I refuse to accept that Russell Sharp is a first class representative of what we were intended to be!" she shouted out into the universe before collapsing back into her chair, her eyes glassing over as she considered the bleakness of creation.

  • In Working Order
  • It Gets Easier: The Ancients' view on non-intervention.
  • It Never Gets Any Easier: Inverted with Andianov after Daniel's ascension. As others note, being X-COM for so long had neutered her to the realities of their high casualty rates and getting seconded to SG-1 has, in her own opinion, made her weak again, though said others see it as a sign of regaining humanity. She thinks they're the same thing.
  • Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique: X-COM isn't above torture, though the others aren't happy about it.
  • Lego Genetics: Sectoids are actually a mash of Asgard and other races' DNA.
  • Lensman Arms Race: Earth starts at the bottom of the food chain. By the start of the second story, the Goa'uld actually agree to human domination of part of the galaxy just to get Earth's weapons pointed at Ba'al instead of themselves.
  • Logical Weakness: Those who have Naquadah injected into their bloodstream (to be able to use Goa'uld healing devices) will set off metal detectors at the airport.
  • Magnetic Weapons: The Gauss weapons from the original Terror have been turned into coilguns.
  • Man Behind the Man: The Aquatoids to the Wraith. Also Loki to the Sectoids, but that's revealed fairly early on.
    • To a much lesser extent, the Ancients to the humans.
    • Anubis wants to be this to Ba'al, but has thus far failed to understand exactly what makes Ba'al tick.
  • Meaningful Rename: Earth(Terra) was renamed after Ancients conquered it. Before that, it was called Water(Aqua) by Aquatoids
  • Mercy Kill: Sharp had to euthanize a young girl who was abducted by aliens.
  • Me's a Crowd: Weir gets her past self, who dies in original timeline, brought back to her. 2nd one serve as a Morality Pet for the present battle hardened one. Also Carter. Right now, there are total of three different Carters running around the Milky Way[2].
    • Not to mention the other android duplicates of SG-1: RobO'Niell, Androidinov, Robot Daniel, and Robot Teal'c.
  • Mind Rape: It's standard procedure for X-com interrogations. They even call it that.
  • Mooks: Series begins with X-COM slaughtering a group of Jaffa. It only goes downhill for the Jaffa from there...
  • Moral Myopia: Loki is fully convinced that the Asgard will welcome him back after he solves the problem with their cloning, regardless of the cost to humans and other experimented-on species.
  • More Dakka: Gatling Staff first, later Gatling Staff Cannon.
    • The Mk. II Power Armor also counts, as it has Gatling Plasma Repeaters as well as a number of other weapons.
    • It's practically X-COM official policy.
  • Mythology Gag: A privatized defense conglomerate called MarSec.
    • In the games, the Aquatoids created the Sectoids. In the story, Loki created the Sectoids, so at first it looks like that piece of continuity is thrown out. However, in Terra, it is revealed that the Aquatoids created the proto-Asgard, which gave rise to the Asgard proper, including Loki. So in a roundabout way, the Aquatoids still created the Sectoids.
  • Neutral No Longer: The Tollan are more or less starting to leave their isolation when faced with all the cruelty other humans are suffering.
  • No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Said word for word by Sharp; it was because the SGC defeated Apophis' attack on Earth that Loki began to step up his operations.
  • No Punctuation Period: As you might notice from the quotes, Hotpoint has... issues with punctuation.
  • Not Quite Dead: Thanks to Goa'uld sarcophagi some - but not all - previous writeoffs can be brought back to life. They can't bring back those who have been headshotted or are subject to the Chunky Salsa Rule. Also, the Earth-made sarcophagi are expensive, and there aren't that many of them. It's still possible to die permanently while waiting for one of them to be freed up for your use.
  • Not So Different: "Lacking the disposable cannon-fodder of many worlds with a large population of Jaffa upon them Anubis was always forced to seek force-multipliers, in this way he was strangely similar to the Tau’ri he now found himself in opposition to, they both constantly sought a technological means to make up for their numerical shortcomings."
    • This is also one of Earth's best methods of diplomacy: they exchange lawyer jokes as well as spices and chocolate with the Tollan, for one example. Jack O'Niell claims this when Loki attacks Langara, saying that "If you attack one of the United Worlds, you attack all of us."
  • Nuke'Em
  • Oh Crap: Basic reaction of Jaffa when X-COM appears.
  • Old School Dogfighting: Interceptions become this due to the stealth and ECM of Sectoid fighters making missile lock very difficult.
  • Portal Network: Given that it's based on the Stargate Verse, this was inevitable, but a unique twist in that since diplomacy went much better with the Tollan this time around, the Tollan now supply planets with their own Stargates which can be effectively "off the grid," from the rest of the network. So it's like two semi-separate portal networks that can connect when one wants to.
    • In Terra From the Deep, Shepard points out that due to a flaw in the Stargate's programming, the Ancients could have simply shut down all the gates in the galaxy before turning on the Attero Device, which would have caused far more death to the Wraith. This causes Janus to have a Heroic Blue Screen of Death.
  • Powered Armor
  • Protagonist-Centered Morality: Averted. The Aschen still aren't trusted, despite being arguably the most powerful human nation in the Milky Way galaxy. X-COM gets yelled at a lot for their "extreme" methods, and several diplomatic summits only take place under the condition that Russel Sharp is nowhere within a thousand light years of the meeting.
  • Proud Warrior Race Guy: Surprisingly, what Earth humans were intended to be by the Ancients. They actually start wondering if they were too successful.
    • Many of the Athosians from "Terra From The Deep," think that humans from Earth are insane. When it comes to light that the Satedans were another Alteran/Lantean/Ancient genetic project with the same genetic upgrades and proclavity for violence that the humans of Earth were given, they are not surprised in the least.
  • Pun-Based Title: Terra From The Deep.
  • "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Sheppard throws one at a Wraith Queen.
  • Redemption Equals Death: Parodied with Jonas. ‘You know you’ve more than redeemed yourself for anything you did, or didn’t do, regarding Danny since you joined the SGC... Hell you’ve died for the cause, only temporarily but you did die... hard to top that in the earning redemption stakes.’
  • Redshirt Army: Though the onscreen focus is largely on the successful missions, there's plenty of reference to how the other alien war costs a lot of X-Com men and materiel, and they're well aware of that. The author throws out the "crappy recruits" idea from game mechanics in favor of the view that the SF troops seconded to X-Com really are elite forces... the aliens are just much better. The ones in Sectoid service at least.
    • The Jaffa play this trope much straighter.
  • Revealing Coverup
  • Sanity Slippage: One reason why the sarcophagus is strictly controlled.
  • Screw the Rules, I Have a Nuke: OUR WORDS ARE BACKED BY NAQUADRIA WEAPONS!
  • Serial Escalation: Humans kicking Goa'uld ass? Humans kicking Wraith ass? Humans creating their own galactic empire? The last one is even better in that it happened by accident.
  • Shell-Shocked Veteran: Every veteran X-Commie is disturbed in some way due to the losses.
  • Shoot the Dog: Sharp torturing Nitri to give cure for Cassie. Weir tries to call him out on it but gets shut down.
  • Shoot the Messenger: Lampshaded by Apophis, who realizes that while killing the bearer of bad news is very catharthic, it's not good policy (especially with the war on). That being said, he is very tempted once word reaches him that Anubis has joined the fight.
  • Shown Their Work: Every chapter (except the first few) shows where he's getting every plot twist, from every game and/or episode in the author's note at the end of the chapter.
  • Space Battle
  • Spared by the Adaptation: Various characters including android SG-1 and Janet Frasier.
    • Others include Alternate Timeline Doctor Weir, Replicator Fifth, the android Reese, Goa'uld Nirrti, Tok'Ra queen Egeria, and even background characters have been stated to survive where their canon counterparts have not.
    • More for the list, Civilization time! The civilizations of Rand and Calledonia (of Tegalus), the Aschen (though their fate in the canon timeline was never all that clear to begin with), the Tollan, Ernest Littlefield, and Catherine Langford all survive. Colonel Vaselov, the original military leader of the Atlantis Expedition, also survives.
    • Apophis... sort of. While, due to X-COM not lending the Tok'Ra their Ha'Tak, Apophis didn't die the way he was supposed to in this timeline, he dies later, in battle against Anubis.
  • Springtime for Hitler: While negotiating with the Goa'uld System Lords, Weir wants to avoid going to war with Ba'al, so she tries to make a request that they will refuse by demanding that the Goa'uld cede them every star system within two and hundred and fifty light-years of Earth. They go for it, and Earth inadvertently becomes an interstellar empire.
  • Stab the Scorpion: At one point Andianov appears to be shooting at Teal'c. Turns out that she intercepted a Goa'uld symbiote's attack.
  • Stuff Blowing Up: X-COM standard procedure.
  • Super Serum: X-COM troops take a cocktail of drugs to boost their performance, aware that there will probably be long-term effects but believing the short-term benefits are worth it and that their likelihood of surviving the time needed for the side effects to kick in are... poor.
  • Super Soldier: Even the basic Sectoid trooper is genetically engineered to a level that X-COM troops have trouble with, never mind the more elite enemies.
    • As it turns out, humanity by the Ancients.
    • Also, the Anubis' Kull Warriors.
  • Super Reflexes: Andianov. It is considered inhuman by other characters in the story and superb even by X-COM's high standards.
  • Take That: occasionally, the narrative will lampshade some of the events of canon, such as the silliness of the Prometheus taking off during the day, despite the fact that it's a giant spaceship launching from an area already under surveillance from UFO watchers.
  • Tank Goodness: The hovertanks, including the first one, which SG-1 names "Harvey."

"The Jaffa were slightly confused at the Tau'ri battlecry of "Sic 'em Harvey" but they didn't have much time to ponder the meaning of the phrase before a large, floating machine, utterly impervious to their weapons appeared in their midst spitting a continual stream of laser and plasma fire and the situation became very unpleasant for them indeed."

  • There Is No Kill Like Overkill: X-COM, again. O'Niell comments that Sharp probably considers arguing against overkill to be blasphemy.
  • Token Evil Teammate: The Aschen as a whole are this.
    • Nirrti, a Goa'uld only kept alive because she's so useful to X-COM.
    • O'Neill considers Maybourne this. In the same way, many members of the SGC consider X-COM this, given their willingness to do less than ethically sound- or sane- things.
  • Training from Hell: X-COM training. Even if you are Elite of Elite, you are stil put through training that would be considered inhuman by many. Worst part? You are going to need it.
    • It starts as Training from Hell, but after some of the technology starts filtering back to earth, it gets worse. Recruits are shot repeatedly with Zat guns so they can build up an immunity to the shots, intars allow for more realistic live-fire exercises, and the memory devices recovered later allow memories from back before all the good alien hunting tech was used to be planted into rookies (when casualty rates were far, far worse.)
  • Tempting Fate: In chapter 13 of Mirror Image/Goa'uld Defence, O'Niell and Daniel are making jokes as to who is most likely to win the "Evil Asshole of the Galaxy 2001 Award," with the two front runners being Apophis and Loki. Carter comments that there's little chance of another person coming in to take the title. The very next paragraph is the introduction to Stargate's greatest Manipulative Bastard, Ba'al, who is working for an even worse monster, Anubis.
  • Totally Radical: "There’s a passage over there which says Ra is a righteous dude and Anubis is bogus."
    • Sharp uses "bitchin," when shown the Mark II Powered Armour, later blaming Cassie for it.
  • Twin Threesome Fantasy: "The O'Neill's didn't simultaneously have the same thought about what they'd like to do with three Samantha Carter's in an ideal universe, but only because the mechanical Jack O'Neill had a brain that got there quicker."
  • Warrior Poet: Jake Gaston literally writes poetry.
  • We Have Reserves: The X-COM mindset, which is one reason for the friction between them and SGC.
  • Weak but Skilled: Deconstructed when the weapons on Thor's Beliskner turn out to not have enough power to overcome Anubis's new shields that are also immune to the shield-piercing effect. Played straight with the Seritans, who have no major capital ships, but rely on small, fast, powerful fighters. Loki's forces are viewed this way by the rest of the Goa'uld, in a manner similar to the Seritans.
    • X-COM, in a sense, at least towards the beginning. Even without technological equivalence to the System Lords, X-COM soldiers are far superior to Jaffa Armies, despite the crushing advantage of technology, numbers, and FTL-capable starships.
  • What Measure Is a Non-Human?: The UN waived Geneva et. al for hostile extraterrestrials.
  • Where Does He Get All Those Wonderful Toys?: Word-for-word spoken by O'Niell about Loki's seemingly endless bag of tricks, ships, Sectoids, and elerium in chapter 27 of Mirror Image/Goa'uld Defense.
  • Well-Intentioned Extremist: Loki believes himself this even more than in canon. Even Anubis, who's hardly a paragon of competence and sanity, thinks that's ridiculous.
  • When All You Have Is a Hammer: X-Com is fond of nukes.

Weir: Nuclear weapons are not my preferred solution to every problem we ever encounter in the Pegasus Galaxy.
McKay: But we've done so well with them so far.

  • Wild Card: Ba'al. He's willing to temporarily ally with the Tok'ra because he knows that a single incredibly powerful system lord would be a greater threat to him. To this end, he also backs Anubis against Apophis, but betrays the former the second the latter is dead.
  • Willfully Weak: Justified for Loki, who can't use full Asgard tech lest his kin come down on him. Not that his troops aren't nasty enough without it.
    • It's also implied that the deliberately low levels of technology were to help fight off the Replicators, who would attack high tech devices and make themselves stronger. By using low tech devices, he could surprise them.
  • Word of God: The author has stated that he's trying to make a galaxy that is able to fight off the Ori on their own, without relying on Deus Ex Machinas from ascended beings as they did in canon.
  1. ↑ For those who didn't get it, it's Goldilocks and the Three Bears.
  2. ↑ The human one, the android, and Replicarter.
This article is issued from Allthetropes. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.