Daniel Jackson: Civilian Consultant To The U.S. Air Force
Scholar And Soldier
While initially at a loss how to fit in during the Abydos mission, Daniel plunged headlong into the role of soldier once he understood the lives of everyone on the planet were at risk. He may have had some training just prior to leaving Earth, but his familiarity with the pistol suggests that he had made use of such weapons long before he arrived at Cheyenne Mountain.
He still thinks like a civilian, but as time has passed and his experience in the field with SG-1 has grown, he has become increasingly competent and able to play his part in battle, even if occasionally expressing nervous discomfort about the dangers the team faces (4.03 "Upgrades", 4.07 "Watergate", 5.08 "The Tomb").
Since his descension and return to SG-1 he has continued to serve as a fully integrated, skilled and trusted member of the premier team of the SGC, participating in all missions with unflagging courage, without a thought for himself if others are threatened.
Archaeological, Cultural And Linguistic Expertise
Following Daniel's return to Earth after the second Abydos mission, he was given free rein at the SGC and counted upon to add his expertise to mission preparation and analysis. While it has never been firmly stated, his position on the primary exploration team, SG-1, indicates that Dr. Jackson may well be the head of the academic team that works both behind the scenes in research and on the front line, going off-world on missions with military teams to explore the worlds connected to the Stargate system.
He often briefs his own team prior to missions, participates in off-world digs (4.08 "The First Ones"), or is temporarily assigned to other teams in order to aid them in missions requiring his input or special skills (2.15 "Matter of Time", 4.18 "The Light", 4.19 "Prodigy", 4.21 "Double Jeopardy", 7.09 "Avenger 2.0"). SG teams are aware he should be informed when artefacts are uncovered during mineral and planetary surveys (7.07 "Enemy Mine").
Diplomat
He has served the SGC in a diplomatic/ambassadorial capacity, been responsible for drafting a treaty between the Tok'ra and Earth, and has represented the Earth's interests off world with our alien allies on numerous occasions.
He was also involved in some delicate onworld negotiations with the Russian government in order to save Teal'c's life when he became trapped in the Stargate (3.03 "Fair Game", 3.05 "Learning Curve", 3.15 "Pretense", 3.18 "Shades of Grey", S4-5 Divide and Conquer, 5.09 "Between Two Fires", 5.10 "2001", 5.14 "48 Hours", 5.21 "Meridian", 7.07 "Enemy Mine", 7.08 "Space Race").
His linguistic expertise has been requested by our allies (4.13 "Serpent's Venom") and has uniquely qualified him to embark on covert missions (5.15 "Summit Part 1", 5.16 "Last Stand Part 2", 7.01 "Fallen Part 1", 7.02 "Homecoming Part 2").
All of his combined skills were required to retrieve the Telchak fountain of youth device, and to survive the experience along with Dr. Lee (7.11 "Evolution Part 1", 7.12 "Evolution Part 2").
Saving The Team And The World
Daniel's commitment to his team and his world is never in question. He has been instrumental in rescues of his teammates on several occasions, and has helped save the planet and other alien civilizations:
- The first time was during the Abydos mission, when Ra was killed (Stargate, the Movie).
- When Jack and Sam went missing on a return trip to Earth, Daniel worked tirelessly in an attempt to figure out what had happened to them. Eventually, he realized that they had been diverted to another Stargate, one that had been previously undiscovered in Antarctica (1.17 "Solitudes").
- Another direct attack, planned by Apophis, was thwarted when Daniel, as part of SG-1 along with Master Bra'tac of the Jaffa, succeeded in blowing up both ships just before their attack on Earth began (2.01 "The Serpent's Lair Part 2"). Daniel was forewarned of the attack due to an accidental visit to an alternate universe, in which the attack had already begun (1.19 "There But For the Grace of God").
- He played diplomat after a fashion, and negotiated for the release of his friends from enslavement in a naquadah mine, at great cost to himself (2.05 "Need").
- In order to contact the Asgard to help the Cimmerians fend off an attack by the Goa'uld, Daniel, with Sam's help, solved a complicated set of riddles and tests of character in the Hall of Thor's Might (2.06 "Thor's Chariot").
- When Jack and the SGC base were under attack by an alien organism, Daniel hypothesized that the beings might be trying to communicate through Jack. When he was proven correct, he offered the aliens another primal world as their new home, and successfully negated their threat to his friend and the planet (2.07 "Message in a Bottle").
- The SGC had just moved the Enkarans to a new home world, only to discover that it was being terraformed by a rival species, the Gad-meer. Daniel refused to give up negotiation until a solution favourable to both species was found; this nearly cost him his life, but resulted in the Enkaarans being returned to their original homeworld so that the Gad-meer could continue terraforming the planet to support their colony (4.09 "Scorched Earth").
- The Goa'uld set a large meteor with a core of solid naquadah on a collision course for Earth, an attack disguised as a natural disaster to try to circumvent their treaty with the Asgard. SG-1 was sent to blow it up, but upon discovering the core properties and how disastrous exploding it would be, Carter figured a way to use the Tok'ra cargo ship they were piloting to tow the meteor through the Earth via a hyperspace window (5.17 "Fail Safe") after a leading suggestion by Daniel.
- After discovering Reese, an android SG-1 found on an alien world, was the creator of the Replicators, Daniel worked hard to gain her trust and get her to shut the Replicators down. She did so just before expiring after being shot by Col. O'Neill (5.19 "Menace").
- As a final act of courage, Daniel sacrificed his own life to prevent a naquadria bomb from going critical and destroying the capital city of Kelowna. The action resulted in his receiving a lethal dose of radiation. At Oma Desala's invitation, he ascended to a higher plane of existence, consequently becoming formless energy in order to continue his journey of enlightenment (5.21 "Meridian").
- When Jack agreed to become a temporary host to Kanan of the Tok'ra, he inadvertently became prisoner of the Goa'uld, Ba'al, who tortured and repeatedly killed the colonel, reviving him in his sarcophagus in an attempt to extract information from him. Daniel appeared to Jack to try to help him ascend as a means of escape, but Jack's reluctance to accept this way out forced Daniel to try an alternate method of freeing his friend. He planted an idea in Teal'c's subconscious during a session of kel'no'reem, which subsequently gave Jack an opportunity to escape (6.06 "Abyss").
- While struggling to stay alive until he could be rescued, Teal'c began to dream about an alternate life, in which Daniel visited him and comforted him, helping him to hang on until his team found him. When the Jaffa was recovering in the infirmary, Daniel paid a final visit to him to assure him that he had been there with him, watching over him, during his ordeal (6.19 "Changeling").
- When it was clear that rescue would not come in time to prevent disaster at the hands of captors under the influence of the Telchak device, Daniel led Dr. Lee to escape into the jungle. Under pursuit, he then hid Lee in safety, drawing the pursuers away from him. He surely would have died if not for the arrival of O'Neill and Burke (7.12 "Evolution Part 2").
For these acts of heroism and self sacrifice, he has received no medals or commendations that we know of.
Moral Imperative
Daniel often has a problem with military strategies, goals and ojectives when they conflict with his own moral imperatives. When such instances occur, he has been known to openly defy direct orders given by Col. O'Neill, his commanding officer on SG-1, and Gen. Hammond as well. Owing to his position and perhaps his recognized value to the SGC, he managed to get away with these instances of insubordination:
- After rescuing alien refugees who possessed various objects of extremely advanced technology from their dying planet, none of the members of SG-1 were willing to turn them over to the authorities for questioning and study. As a civilian and therefore not subject to military discipline and the only one able to flagrantly disobey orders (and for once being insubordinate with the tacit blessings of Jack and General Hammond), he helped the stranded Tollan to escape through the Stargate to the world of the Nox, who welcomed the them and helped them reach their new homeworld (1.16 "Enigma", 3.15 "Pretense").
- Due to information he received after travelling through a quantum mirror, Daniel insisted that an attack on Earth was imminent and convinced SG-1 to defy the order to shut down the Stargate program, and go through the gate on an unauthorized mission. This action saved the Earth from destruction by Apophis and Klorel (2.01 "The Serpent's Lair").
- While Col. O'Neill was under the influence of the Ancients' database, Gen. Hammond sent SG-1 on a mission to try to uncover any additional information that might be useful in helping Jack regain control of his mind. Daniel flatly refused to leave Jack, citing his abilities as a translator would be O'Neill's only way of communicating and he was unwilling and flatly refused to abandon Jack. "I can't leave him like this, and I won't" (2.15 "The Fifth Race").
- Under the influence of the Atanik armbands, Daniel -- along with the rest of SG-1 -- disobeyed a direct order from Gen. Hammond to remain on the base, and went off on a mission to destroy a new space ship being built by Apophis (4.03 "Upgrades"). When the super powers of the armband suddenly disappeared, he and the team were nearly captured by the Jaffa guarding the ship, but they managed to escape with Teal'c's able assistance.
- Knowing that a bomb had been placed in the path of a Gad-meer terraforming vessel, Daniel went aboard the ship in an effort to find an alternative solution to the problem of two races competing for the same planet. He placed his own life in jeopardy to try to save both the Enkarans and the Gadmeer, and came up with a successful resolution to the problem in the nick of time (4.09 "Scorched Earth").
- Daniel was recruited by the Tok'ra to go on a convert mission to a Goa'uld System Lord Summit near the Hassara System in order to assassinate all the attendees and thereby break the power of the Sytem Lords. However, when Osiris/Sarah appeared, he discovered that taking the Goa'uld hierarchy out would result in a shift in power to a single, all-powerful false god: Anubis. He chose to scrap the mission in order to maintain the balance of power and save the life of his former girlfriend Sarah, whom he also tried, unsuccessfully, to rescue (5.15 "Summit Part 1"/ 5.16 "Last Stand Part 2").