DISCLAIMER: Stargate SG-1 and its characters are the property of Showtime/ Viacom, MGM/UA, Double Secret Productions, and Gekko Productions. This story for entertainment purposes only and no money whatsoever has exchanged hands. No copyright infringement is intended. The original characters, situations, and story are the property of the author.

AUTHOR'S NOTES: This is a story I’d written in 2000, slated for a ‘zine, so if some of the references seem a bit “dated,” that’s why. Special thanks to Miki for the editing and the usual suspects for the beta reading.

Copyright 2000 by Noda

*Second Sight*

Colonel Jack O'Neill stood at the base of the metal ramp leading to the Stargate, looking from his watch to the clock in the control room to General Hammond's face. Daniel and Sam were both late. Teal'c stood at his side, watching his impatient movements, but offered no comment. The door to the embarkation room finally opened, admitting the two tardy scientists.

"Sorry we're late, sir," Sam Carter said as she moved an over-loaded Field Remote Expeditionary Device forward with a radio control signal.

"I can see why," Jack muttered under his breath. Louder, he remarked, "I see you decided to bring everything *and* the kitchen sink this time."

"We need all this equipment, Jack," Daniel Jackson spoke, sounding defensive. "If the images we got from the UAV are accurate, this world is a veritable treasure trove of..."

"Artifacts. Yeah, I know. Let's just go, okay? We're already late." Jack looked up to the technician in the control room, calling out, "Dial'er up!"

"Chevron one encoded," the tech's voice echoed through the 'gate room. Jack let his mind wander a bit, knowing he'd realize the last chevron had locked when the room was filled with the now familiar whoosh. Who would have ever thought the opening of a wormhole would become routine? Not boring, never boring, but the 'gate engaging no longer made him jump.

Jack looked over at Sam, as she did a last minute check of her equipment, oblivious to the countdown. This was more her and Daniel's mission than his. Not that she and Daniel weren't full participants on SG-1's more military missions, but Jack felt less than involved on scientific quests. Sometimes he felt the only purpose he and Teal'c served was that of watchdogs, but that was his fault. He could have read up on the Earth cultures found on other planets, but he didn't. Why should he when he had Jackson and Carter?

"All set, sir," Sam said, standing upright, looking him in the eye. He couldn't help but notice the excitement reflected there, the same enthusiasm was radiating from Daniel. Those two were definitely peas in a pod, he thought, shaking his head.

*********

Once on the other side of the 'gate, Jack was relieved to notice the landscape was distinctly void of trees and sand. Oh, there was the occasional outcropping of trees on the rolling prairie, but nothing like the damp, misty forests they usually found themselves in.

Sam looked over at him, smiling when she saw the expression on his face. He didn't have to ask what she was grinning at. Sometimes she knew him better than he knew himself.

"I’ve we finally found a planet to your liking, O'Neill?" Teal'c asked, also noticing Jack's happy countenance.

"This is *definitely* more like it," Jack smiled, slapping Daniel on the back. "Ready to go, Dr. Jackson?"

Daniel was checking the coordinates the UAV had sent them. "We should go right," he said. "About five kilometers."

Jack nodded, looking forward to the walk. He'd been stuck inside the mountain for what seemed weeks, doing paperwork. In actuality, it'd only been six days, but he'd been getting claustrophobic. General Hammond had threatened Jack with mandatory down time until he was caught up on his reports, but he never figured Ol' George would really follow through. He decided never to call the general on a bluff again.

The rest of the team hadn't seemed to mind the unscheduled vacation. Carter and Daniel had buried themselves in their labs, while Teal'c had taken the opportunity to visit his family. Yeah, they'd had a grand old time while he'd suffered under the yoke of oppression known as "triplicate."

Daniel had even looked a little disappointed when Jack had told him he'd finally finished his stack of "homework." At least until he'd waved a file with the details of P9X-445 under Daniel's nose. Earth-based research had instantly taken a back seat to the new gem Jack had offered him. Jack couldn't help but smile at how easily Daniel was led astray at the prospect of new rocks.

Usually it was Jack who was bugging Daniel to keep up. Today it was Daniel's turn to motivate the group, as he struggled with his impatience to get to the ruins. They would have been there by now if it weren't for the fact that FRED had a top-speed of a snail's pace.

"Can't we go a little faster?" Daniel whined.

"Hey, it's your vital equipment holding us up, Danny boy," Jack said, enjoying the battle taking place within his friend.

"Couldn't you just follow me with this stuff? I mean is there any reason I can't go on ahead?" Daniel was practically pacing around the slow-moving vehicle carrying his tools and Sam's diagnostic supplies.

"Yeah, go ahead. You're making me dizzy," Jack said. "But take Teal'c with you. No one goes off alone. I don't care how deserted this place looks."

"Thanks, Jack!" Daniel cried as he jogged ahead.

"Teal'c! Don't let him wander off!" Jack called, as the Jaffa quickly set off after him.

Sam shook her head, an amused smile tugging at her lips.

"What?" Jack asked.

"I'm surprised you let him go," she said, trying to hide her grin.

"Why do you say that?"

"Because you love to torment him. Now who are you going to toy with?" she asked, unable to keep the smile from her face.

"Oh, I can think of someone," he said, glancing sideways at her.

"Won't work, sir."

"And why's that, Major?"

"Because I'm on to you. You'll say something derogatory about my scientific interests, expecting to get a rise out of me, but it won't work because I know you don't really mean it."

"And what if I said I let Daniel and Teal'c go so I could have some time alone with you? You know, maybe drag you off into the bushes for... you know," he said, raising his eyebrows at her.

Sam stopped dead in her tracks, mouth hanging open at his unprofessional declaration.

Jack kept moving forward, seemingly heedless of Sam's shock. "You might want to close your mouth, Major. You never know what kind of flying insects there are here." *Gotcha!* he thought. And Carter thought she knew him so well!

"I guess I was wrong," Sam smiled, as her brain engaged once more. "You continue to amaze me, sir."

*********

Decaying buildings, which had once been a city, loomed on the horizon. Jack could see figures moving amongst the crumbling walls and hoped it was Daniel and Teal'c, and not some natives their probes had overlooked.

"Well, it looks like Daniel's in heaven," he commented, looking over at Sam who was busy scouting locations to set up her weather monitoring equipment. "Guess you are too," he added, realizing she wasn't paying attention to him.

"What's that, sir?"

"Oh nothing, Carter. Just rambling like always."

"Yes, sir," she said, absorbed once more in her preparations.

"Right," he said, taking a look around. The landscape almost seemed alive as he watched the gentle wind blow through the sea of grass, moving the vegetation in waves. There were two suns, but they must have been at a significant distance from the planet since their combined energy output raised the temperature only to a balmy twenty-eight degrees Celsius.

"Carter, what kind of experiments are ya running, anyway?"

"Well, sir, this planet seems to have freak violent storms. One minute sunny, and the next, incredible winds, rain and flooding."

"Oh, joy," said Jack, taking a look at the sky.

"Don't worry, sir. From the data the UAV sent back we shouldn't run into any problems today. They seem to run in cycles, much like on Earth, but the cycles are more frequent. In fact, we're hoping by studying this planet's weather patterns, it might help us in forecasting storms on Earth." Sam snapped a final arm onto her doohickey and aimed the small radio dish in the direction of the larger sun.

"I wish we'd had the opportunity to work more with the Touchstone on Madrona, but I can see why they're leery of letting us study it now," she said, making a few more minor adjustments before turning on the power. "All set," she said, standing with a self-satisfied grin on her face.

They stared at each other a moment longer than necessary before Jack said, "we should probably see what Daniel's up to." Sam nodded her agreement, moving the now substantially lighter FRED forward.

*********

Daniel was walking from building to building, trying to shake his Jaffa escort.

"You know, you really don't have to baby-sit me, Teal'c. I'll be fine."

"Colonel O'Neill has requested no one be left alone," he stated as he began shadowing Daniel once more.

Daniel sighed in exasperation, knowing he wouldn't win. "Okay! Fine! Could you just watch me from outside? It's a little cramped in here with both of us."

"Very well," Teal'c stated, exiting the low-ceilinged building. Daniel suspected Teal'c's easy agreement was more from being unable to stand up straight than any persuasive arguments he'd put forth.

Sighing once more, Daniel bent to look at the inscriptions on the stone wall. The alphabet seemed to be a strange mixture of Sumerian and Greek with some pictographs thrown in for good measure. >From what he could tell from his limited observation, it was the story of a natural disaster, much like the great flood depicted in the Bible.

"I bet Sam would love to take a look at this," Daniel muttered to himself as he used his fingers to gently dislodge dust and debris from the bas-relief mural.

"Take a look at what?" Sam asked, ducking her head as she entered the small room.

Startled, Daniel stood up a little to quickly, hitting his head on the low ceiling. "Ow," he muttered as he raised his hand to rub the sore spot on his head.

"This mural," Daniel said, nodding his head at the wall he'd been examining. "It seems as though this planet's been experiencing strange weather for a very long time. I'm not sure when this scene was carved, but it doesn't appear to be recent."

Sam bent for a closer look. "I can't read the writing, but it looks like the world being destroyed by a flood."

"I think that's what it is. I would imagine that's why this city was built at this elevation when the logical choice would have been closer to the plains."

"Unless there's significant rainfall and flash flooding," she said. "At the base of this hill there's evidence of erosion that usually accompanies torrential rains and flooding. This artwork may be a reminder of what happens if they leave the safety of higher ground."

"That's what I thought," Daniel said, continuing to brush away at the dust covering the mural. "Or maybe to show how far they've come since the destruction of their civilization?"

Sam raised her eyebrows, shrugging her shoulders. "Sounds good to me. Have you had a chance to check out any of the other ruins?"

"Some," Daniel said, standing from his efforts to uncover more of the picture. "One thing I noticed is there isn't any more writing anywhere. So far, this is all I've seen, and it seems almost gratuitous."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, the picture itself explains what happened. The text is redundant, almost as if the words themselves are part of the decoration. I think this is the oldest building here, so it's pretty safe to say this might be some of the earliest art work."

"From what I saw on the climb up here, this seems to have been a rather ordered society. There's evidence of civil planning with the way the buildings and streets are laid out," Sam said. "Not really technologically advanced, but obviously organized."

"I'd place them about on the same level as classical Greeks or Romans," Daniel agreed. "The lack of writing is what's got me stumped. There was a statue in the main square, but no plaque stating who he was or what he'd done. I assume it was a memorial to the person depicted, but it's hard to say."

"Maybe he was so well known it wasn't necessary," Sam offered.

"But what about succeeding generations? Wouldn't you want some kind of inscription to commemorate him?"

Sam shrugged her shoulders again. "I don't know, Daniel. It's fascinating, really, but I've got some more equipment to set up. Your tools are outside if you want them."

"Thanks, Sam," Daniel said, giving her a brief smile. "I'll be out in a minute."

*********

This was it. Jack O'Neill was officially bored. It had been bad enough watching Carter setting up her toys on the plain, but now she was doing the same here where all there was to look at were Daniel's rocks. Looking down at his feet, he spied a rock. Not an artifact but a rock. A plain old, everyday rock. Sam could probably tell him of its composition, but he didn't care about that. It was something he could toss off the cliff where the outer most buildings were. Throwing the fist-sized rock over the edge, he waited to hear it clattering on the stones below. Nothing. Not one sound. Looking over the precipice, Jack expected to see plants or something else that would have deflected the rock, causing it not to hit the ground below. There was nothing.

Picking up another rock, he watched it this time as he dropped it over the edge. Again, instead of some indication it had hit the lower ground, there was no sound. The rock did, however, bounce back about half the distance before coming to rest at the base of the bluff.

Intrigued, Jack searched for another rock that looked like the first two he'd found. It looked like typical sandstone-even felt like it in his hand-but if it were, it would have shattered on the ground, not bounced. Testing his theory, Jack let the rock drop from his hand to the ground. Again it bounced back, to about waist level, where he caught it once more.

Jack looked up to see Teal'c observing him. "What is it you are doing, O'Neill?"

"Check this out!" Jack called, throwing the rock to the ground and catching it.

Teal'c simply raised an eyebrow at his actions.

"It's like a superball," he said, handing the rock to the Jaffa. "Go ahead, try it!"

Teal'c looked at the rock in his hand. "What is a superball?"

"Well, it's mostly a kid's toy. It's a ball that's really bouncy it's... oh for cryin' out loud, just try it!"

Teal'c dropped the rock, but didn't attempt to catch it.

"No! Not like that!" Jack admonished, retrieving the stone, and demonstrating once more.

"I see no point in this exercise," Teal'c said.

"There's not supposed to be a point," Jack sighed. "It's just supposed to be fun. Jeez, and I thought Carter could suck all the fun out of stuff," he complained as he turned to find a more sympathetic audience. He could show it to Sam, but she'd want to examine it, take a sample. Daniel. Now *he* might understand, Jack thought as he spotted his teammate emerging from a building.

"Daniel! Check out these rocks!"

Daniel gave him a long-suffering sigh. "Jack, how many times have we been over this? They're *art-i-facts!*"

"No! I mean check out these rocks!" he said, giving the archeologist a demonstration. "Isn't that cool? Maybe we could call it 'Jackacite' or maybe 'O'Neillinium.' Whaddya think?"

Daniel just shook his head.

"Think of what, sir?" Sam asked joining them.

"Carter, you'll appreciate this!" Jack said, once again showing off his new discovery.

"Wow, that's amazing!" Sam said in awe, taking the rock from Jack's hand, giving it a closer examination.

"Told ya," he said, giving Daniel a smug grin.

"I never said I didn't think it was interesting," Daniel said, pushing his glasses up his nose. "I just think it's a bit pretentious wanting to name it after yourself."

"I found it, I should get to name it," Jack said, taking the rock back from Sam.

"We should take some of this back with us, sir. It could be a significant find." Jack's grin grew even wider as he looked at Daniel, raising his eyebrows.

"Well, speaking of significant finds, I'd like to have more of a look around the city, if you don't mind."

"Sure, knock yourself out," Jack said, bouncing his super rock against the side of a building, catching it as it returned. "Carter? You goin' with him?"

"Actually, sir, I have a few more adjustments to make on this second unit if you don't mind."

"Teal'c," he said, nodding his head in Daniel's direction.

"As you wish, O'Neill."

Jack watched Daniel take off for the heart of the city, looking over his shoulder and shaking his head at his escort.

Jack continued to bounce his rock off the building, almost developing a rhythm.

"Sir? Couldn't you have gone with Daniel? You seem rather bored. Teal'c could have stayed with me."

"Yeah, I know, but there's bored, and there's *bored.* Searching through old buildings isn't my idea of a good time."

Sam bent back over her equipment, releasing a sigh, as Jack continued to keep up the staccato beat with his discovery.

"Would you just stop that? Do you have any idea how annoying that is? Sir!" Sam demanded, adding the sir at the last minute.

Surprised by Sam's outburst, Jack turned his head before he caught the rock, getting struck in the temple with surprising force. He was about to say something to her, but she suddenly seemed very far away and the world was tilted at a crazy angle. Or was it him?

*********

Sam gasped as Jack collapsed. "Colonel!" she cried, dropping her tools as she rushed to his side. A lump was forming where the rock had struck him on the head, growing larger as she examined him for other injuries. So far the goose egg near his temple seemed to be the only sign of damage, but he was out cold.

"Colonel!" Sam called again, gently slapping his face, but there was no response. She checked his breathing and his pulse, which was a little rapid, but stable. He was breathing fine, almost appearing as if he were asleep rather than unconscious.

Sam tried to keep from panicking, attempting to remember her field training. She didn't want to shake or move him if he'd hurt his spine during his fall, so she settled for applying a cloth soaked with her lukewarm canteen water to his face.

Reaching over to her left shoulder, she pressed the button on her radio. "Daniel, Teal'c, do you read me?"

There was a bit of static before Daniel's excited voice crackled over the radio. "Sam! You and Jack have to see this it's..."

"Daniel!" Sam almost shouted, "The colonel's been hurt, he's unconscious. I need you guys to come back right away!"

"What happened?"

"I'm pretty sure he was struck by that rock he was playing with. Just get back here ASAP!"

"We're on our way!" Daniel said.

Sam turned her attention to Jack once more. He still hadn't shown any sign of waking up, and she was growing worried. The rock had some weight to it and the force it would have struck Jack with on a rebound could have been considerable. Obviously enough to knock him out. He'd already been senseless for over five minutes. The longer he remained out, the greater the chance he'd suffered some major damage.

"Come on, sir," Sam said, bathing his face again. "Remember what you're always saying about the routine missions being the most dangerous? You don't have to prove your point! Or are you just trying to keep things even between you and Daniel?" Sam bit her lip as she watched Jack's eyes moving rapidly beneath his lids, almost as if he were in a state of REM sleep. *This shouldn't be happening,* she thought. But as long as he was still breathing and maintaining a steady pulse, she wasn't sure what else she could do.

Teal'c and Daniel finally came running over a ridge, sliding to a halt a few feet from her and Jack.

"He's still out?" Daniel asked, breathlessly.

"Yeah, I'm not sure what to do. It's been almost ten minutes now," Sam said.

Teal'c bent over Jack's inert form, pulling an eyelid back to reveal only the white of his eye. "He is most definitely away from this place," he confirmed.

"Out of it," Daniel absentmindedly corrected him.

"As I said."

"We have to get him back to the Stargate, back to Janet," Sam announced.

"Is that wise?" Daniel asked. "I mean, should we be moving him when he's like this?"

"Daniel, I don't know what else to do! He shouldn't be unconscious for this long! I think we have to risk any further damage we might do to him."

Daniel nodded his head in agreement. "I suppose you're right. Teal'c? Think you can carry him?"

"I believe I can."

"Wait! What about FRED?" Sam asked.

"That thing is too slow. Teal'c can walk faster and it's probably less jarring."

Sam nodded in agreement. "We'll have to come back for it. Look, I still have a few more adjustments to make to this device before it's operational, you guys start for the 'gate and I'll catch up."

"Sam, Jack didn't want us to split up. And I would say, under the circumstances, he was right!"

"It'll only take me a few minutes, Daniel, I'll be fine. Just get the colonel back to 'gate. I'll be right behind you."

Sam could see Daniel was torn between wanting to make sure she was safe and seeing to Jack's needs.

Finally, he relented and took off after Teal'c, shouting over his shoulder, "You better be right behind us, or I'm coming back!"

Sam merely waved her hand as she set to calibrating the weather device. The more time she talked to him, the less she'd have to finish her work. Within five minutes, she'd completed her tasks and was running down the path leading to the plains. Burdened with Colonel O'Neill, Sam knew they couldn't have gotten far. Catching up with them she asked, "How's he doing?"

"Still no sign of waking up," Daniel said. "He's going to be okay, Sam. We'll get him home."

"I know," she said, hoping she'd schooled her features not to betray the worry she felt. Checking her watch, she noticed it had been nearly a half an hour since his accident.

Sam removed the sample of the rock she'd picked up. *O'Neillinium,* she thought. *It has a nice ring to it.* She only hoped the mineral wouldn't be named for him posthumously. Funny thing was, it felt like a regular rock. It didn't give when she squeezed it, and it had a rough texture like the sandstone it resembled. So why did it have elastic properties, she wondered. Sam was so lost in her analysis of the rock it took her a moment to realize Jack was struggling in Teal'c's arms.

"For cryin' out loud!" he cried. "Teal'c! Put me down!"

"As you wish, O'Neill," Teal'c said, lowering him to the ground. "You were becoming exceedingly heavy."

Jack shot him an embarrassed look as he straightened his shirt. "Yeah, well, if ya hadn't been trying to carry me over the threshold, ya wouldn't be all tired out. Anyone want to tell me what's going on?"

Sam and Daniel stared at him incredulously, amazed he could be so coherent after being unconscious for so long.

"Anyone?" Jack asked, looking from one member of his team to the other.

"Sir, you've been unconscious for the past half hour!"

Jack's gaze swept the faces surrounding him. "Get outta town, Major!"

"Jack, it's true! Sam called Teal'c and I on the radio. When we got back to your location, you were passed out cold."

"What's the last thing you remember, sir?" Sam asked.

"Well, I was doing my own research on the rock until you distracted me. It hit me and then..." Jack reached up, touching his temple where the stone had struck. "Ow! Guess I did get conked, huh?" he said, giving them a sheepish grin.

"Sir, you were unresponsive for over thirty minutes!"

"Was that any reason to panic and have Teal'c carry me off like some caveman? I feel fine. In fact, I feel better than fine. Better than I did this morning."

Sam, Daniel and Teal'c exchanged looks of disbelief.

"What? Ya don't believe me? I'm fine!" Jack said, jogging around in a little circle to prove his point. "See?"

"Colonel, I still think we should have Janet check you out. Just to be safe." Sam could tell he was gearing up for an argument, so she added. "You'd make it an order if it was one of us."

Jack sighed. "You're right, Carter. It isn't necessary, but I'll go along with you on this one. You finish up what you had to do?"

"Yes, sir. Both units are in operation and appear to be functioning."

"Well, that's a first," he muttered. "Where's FRED?"

"At the top of the ridge. We were in kind of a hurry to get you back, sir."

"Well, send the signal and get it down here. I don't think the general would be too pleased if we left a million dollar toy here when there's nothing wrong with me."

Jack started to walk ahead, glancing over at Teal'c. "Don't think just because you carried me down that ridge we're going steady now or anythin'."

Sam felt herself beginning to relax for the first time since Jack had his accident. If he was back to baiting Teal'c, he had to be feeling all right.

*********

"Welcome back, SG-1," Jack heard the general announce as they began their descent down the ramp.

"Thank you, General. Happy to report no casualties!" he said, looking up into the control room.

"Good job, people. We'll have our debriefing once you've been to the infirmary."

"Uh, sir?" Sam said, also turning her gaze to the control room. "Colonel O'Neill wasn't entirely truthful about the no casualties. He was unconscious on the planet for a little over a half an hour."

Jack gave Sam a hard stare, which she ignored by keeping her eyes forward.

"Colonel?" Hammond asked, his voice holding an edge and concerned at the same time.

"Well, I got a little bump on the head. Major Carter is overreacting, sir."

"I'll let Dr. Fraiser be the judge of that. You'll be the first to be examined, understood?"

"Yes, sir," Jack sighed in resignation. "Thanks, Carter," he said, brushing past her.

"Sir, you would have mentioned it if it had been one of us," she said, trying to catch up with him after hurriedly handing her gun to the weapons officer.

"Just don't mention anything else, okay?" he demanded, stopping abruptly, causing Sam to almost collide with him.

"Sir?"

"Just don't tell Fraiser *how* I got hit in the head, all right?"

"I'm not sure I'm following you, sir."

"The bit about me playing with the rock and getting hit with it," he clarified. "How 'bout we just tell her some rocks were falling and I got hit with one, okay?"

Jack watched as an amused smile spread across Sam's face. "It'll be our little secret," she said. "Of course you have to make sure Daniel and Teal'c don't say anything either."

"I'll let you take care of that little detail, Major."

"Me?"

"I'm delegating."

"Gee, last time I heard, it was called passing the buck."

"Semantics," he said with a grin. "Now, if you don't mind, I believe I have a date with the doctor."

*********

"That's quite a bump you've got there, Colonel," Dr. Fraiser said, lightly pressing on the tender spot.

"Ow!" Jack cried, automatically jerking his head back from the pain.

"Sorry about that. Are you feeling dizzy? Seeing spots? Have a headache?"

"No, no, no, and no you're not."

"I'm not what?"

"Sorry for poking me," Jack said, wincing as she passed a penlight before his eyes. "Or for that."

"Well, your pupils are reactive, but you seem to be a little sensitive to light," Janet said as she made some notes on his chart.

"If I shined a light into *your* eyes at point-blank range, don't you think *you'd* be a little sensitive too?"

Janet smiled. "Sounds like you're doing okay, Colonel."

"I told you I was! Like I told Carter, I feel better now than I did this morning! Maybe I had some sense knocked into me or something," he said, grinning at her.

"It would take more than a rock to do that," Janet mumbled to herself. "Just one more test. I'd like to do an MRI to make sure everything is okay. It's going to take awhile, so I'll check the rest of your team out while it's being performed."

Jack nodded. The sooner all this nonsense was over the better. He wasn't lying when he told Carter and Fraiser he felt great. In fact, he almost wished he *wasn't* feeling so good. After all, the women were right. Shouldn't he be feeling *some* after effects from being unconscious for that amount of time?

He hated getting MRIs. Lying there for so long drove him nuts, especially when all he wanted to do was get the briefing over with so he could go home.

*********

An hour and a half later SG-1, General Hammond and Dr. Fraiser were seated in the briefing room. Jack began zoning out the minute Sam started in with her weather recitation, and he found himself doodling on the pad of paper before him. He wasn't paying attention to what he was drawing, thinking more about what was on TV that night. His attention returned to the meeting when he heard Hammond mention his name to the doctor.

"Do you have the results of Colonel O'Neill's tests?" he asked.

Janet opened the file before her. "From what I can tell, sir, Colonel O'Neill is in perfect health. Honestly, I can't understand it. There should be some residual effects, but all the classic symptoms-dizziness, headaches, disorientation-don't seem to be present. In fact the colonel himself says he's never felt better."

Hammond looked at Jack and he simply held up his hands and shrugged. "Ya got me, sir."

Janet was searching through her paperwork, a confused look on her face. "I had a report from Colonel O'Neill's last physical to show you a comparison, but it seems to be missing. I don't understand it," she said, riffling through her papers once more.

"It's behind the filing cabinet in your office," Jack said off-handily, staring at the doodle before him. "It probably fell back there when they were doing the maintenance work on the air ducts. It blew a lot of stuff around," Jack said, adding to his drawing. He looked up to see four sets of eyes trained on him.

"What?" he asked, looking to each person staring at him. "Did I miss something?"

"Colonel," Janet said. "How did you know about the air duct work? It took place while you were off-world."

"I dunno," he said, shrugging his shoulders again. "Someone must have mentioned it."

Hammond stared at him. "The maintenance on those air ducts wasn't scheduled. As far as I know, there was no record of it. In fact, first I knew of it was when I received a progress report moments before I came to this meeting."

"Well, I saw what happened plain as day," Jack argued. "There was a blast of air from the ducts, and it scattered the papers on Doc Fraiser's desk. My record and some others fell behind the cabinet."

Hammond looked to Fraiser for confirmation. "I don't know about the lost papers," she said. "But earlier today when I returned to my office I ran into some of the maintenance crew and they apologized for messing up my desk while they were doing their work. So what Colonel O'Neill is describing could have happened. The only thing is, I don't know how he knows about it. As I said, this all took place while SG-1 was off world."

Jack looked at the faces still staring at him. "Well don't look at me!" he cried. "I don't know how I know!"

"Perhaps we should see if ColonelO'Neill is correct," Teal'c said, joining the meeting for the first time. In unspoken agreement, all the occupants of the room stood, causing Daniel to look down at the pad Jack had been doodling on.

"Uh, Jack?"

"Yeah?" he asked, turning to look at Daniel.

"I thought you and Sam just made it to the outer part of the city."

"We did."

"Then how is it you're drawing pictures of the symbols at the bottom of the statue Teal'c and I found in the center of the city?"

"They're just geometric shapes," he said. "They don't mean anything."

"I don't think so, Jack. I mean yes, they're geometric shapes, but they're arranged in the same order as they were on the statue."

Teal'c looked over Jack's shoulder. "I believe DanielJackson is correct, O'Neill. These symbols are aligned in the same pattern as on the statue."

"I've got the video right here," Daniel said, producing his camcorder.

"Dr. Jackson," Hammond said. "We'll take a look at that in a moment. For now, I want to check out Colonel O'Neill's claim in the infirmary."

"Yes, sir," Daniel said, sounding dejected.

Jack smiled and patted Daniel on the shoulder as he passed him, "It's okay. You'll get your chance at show and tell when the general's finished."

Arriving at the infirmary, Jack was the first to enter the doctor's office.

"There were paper's everywhere," he said motioning with his hands to encompass the room. "Some fell on the floor, some on your chair and some," he said, moving the file cabinet away from the wall. "Fell back here." Reaching down, Jack retrieved several sheets of paper and handed them to Janet.

"It's the report I was missing, sir," she said, turning to General Hammond. "And a few other's I didn't realize were gone. I can't explain it. There's no way he could have known about this."

"Anyone have any ideas?" Hammond asked the people crowded in Janet's small office.

"General, I'd like Jack to have a look at that tape, if I could," Daniel said.

"Agreed. Maybe that'll shed some light on this."

Walking back to the briefing room, Jack fell into step along with Sam. "Carter? You've been awfully quiet during this whole thing. You don't have anything to say?"

Sam looked up at him, concentration furrowing her brow. "I'm not sure what *to* say, sir. It seems likely it's more than just a coincidence. I mean how could you have known about the mess in the room, let alone that part of your file was missing and behind the cabinet?"

"Guess I just must be psychic," he joked.

Actually, the thought was absurd. Of all the people on the base, he'd be the last person to buy the concept of extra sensory perception. Especially that *he* could have enhanced abilities. There was some explanation for his knowledge. Maybe he noticed the scattered files while Fraiser had been examining him and she was the one mixed up as to when she cleaned them up. Maybe she'd done it while he was having the MRI and she'd gotten her time frames screwed up somehow. Him, knowing where his file was, had to be a fluke. It was a logical conclusion when it was missing. Of course, Janet was the one who knew it was missing, not him.

Jack was shaken from his musing as they entered the briefing room. Daniel was already setting up the tape as Jack took his seat.

Turning toward the room's occupants, Daniel held up the note pad with the colonel's drawings. Jack felt his face grow warm, feeling a bit embarrassed at having been caught doodling while he should have been listening to Carter.

Daniel pointed to the television screen where he'd frozen an image of the base of a statue. "As you can see, the symbols carved into the sculpture are the same as Jack has drawn. Considering I found very little writing, which these symbols don't resemble, I'm guessing it's just decorative. If I go with the theory that this isn't a form of writing, I have no way of knowing who it's a likeness of." Daniel started the video once more as the camera pulled back, revealing the entire statue.

"Ahzka," Jack said.

"What did you say?" Daniel asked.

"Ahzka. The guy's name was Ahzka."

Daniel pushed his glasses up with his index finger. "And how would you know that?"

"I don't know. I just do!"

"Jack, have you seen this sculpture before?"

"Daniel, didn't I tell you I hadn't? I was with Carter the whole time! All we did was set up her weather information gathering doohickey before I was attacked by a rock, I mean a bunch of rocks," he said, casting a quick look in the general and Janet's direction to see if they'd caught his slip. Apparently they were too involved in the mystery at hand to pay attention to his rantings.

"Daniel, there's no way he would have had time to go exploring," Sam backed him up.

"Thank you, Major!" Jack said, extending his hands in her direction.

"Okay," Daniel said, pausing the picture once more. "Then how do you explain it?"

"I don't have an explanation," Jack said quietly, looking down at the pen he was playing with. "I don't even remember doing those drawings. Ya know how it is, your mind wanders and you don't realize what your hands were doing. Sorry, Carter," he said, apologizing for his earlier lack of concentration.

"It's okay, sir. I would have been surprised if you *had* paid attention," she said, smiling.

"So where is this knowledge coming from?" Janet asked.

"Perhaps it is similar to when O'Neill had the knowledge of the Ancients downloaded into his brain on P3R-272," Teal'c said.

"I don't think so, Teal'c," Sam said. "There were no devices of any kind, other than those we brought with us."

"Maybe it wasn't a device," Janet said. "Maybe it was something he touched, or ingested somehow."

"I don't think he touched anything that we didn't. And we were all breathing the same air, exposed to the same sun. We all held the rock he was pla... examining, so I don't know what it could be," Daniel said.

"Well, he was the only one knocked unconscious," Janet said. "I'd say that was a pretty obvious difference."

"But he was unconscious, Janet," Sam said. "What could have happened to him while he was out cold?"

Fraiser shrugged her shoulders. "I'm not sure, but I do know it's the only thing he did differently than the rest of you." Turning to the general she added, "Sir, I'd like to keep Colonel O'Neill overnight for observation."

Before Hammond could answer, Jack was protesting. "No!" he cried. "General, *there's nothing wrong with me!* Doc said so herself! I've been locked in this mountain for days! I just want to go home, catch the hockey game. Is that so much to ask?"

"Colonel, Dr. Fraiser has a point. We're not sure why these 'revelations,' for lack of a better word, are coming to you. I think it's best if you take her advice."

"Can I at least stay in my quarters?" Jack asked, hoping he could plea bargain his way out of the infirmary.

Fraiser and Hammond exchanged looks before she said, "I suppose that would be acceptable, but I'd prefer to keep a closer eye on you."

"Doc, I promise, just a little of the game and I'll go to sleep like a good little boy, okay?"

Janet sighed, but agreed. "But if you experience anything else that seems out of the ordinary, I want you to report to me immediately. Is that understood?"

"Yes, ma'am," Jack replied, his tone almost mocking. The general gave him a warning glance before he broke up the meeting.

"Until Colonel O'Neill is cleared for active duty, you're all on stand-down. Major Carter, Dr. Jackson, I'm assuming you can use this time to go over your planetary data?"

"Yes, sir," Sam answered for both of them.

"Very well. Dismissed."

*********

Jack sat on the hard sofa in the rec room. It wasn't home by anyone's stretch of the imagination-no beer, no privacy-but at least he'd be able to watch the game. He wasn't even sure who was playing. All he cared about was there was ice and attitude.

He tried to concentrate on the action on the screen, but his mind kept wandering back to the day's assignment. Normally he could simply turn off his thoughts about a cakewalk mission, but he kept thinking about the planet's inhabitants. That in itself caused him to wonder. Contemplating natives was Daniel's area of expertise, not his. They were gone, what more did he need to know?

"We were a proud people," Jack heard in his head. *Where the hell did *that* come from?* he asked himself. He listened for a moment, thinking perhaps Daniel had snuck up on him and was toying with him. There was only the sound of cheering coming from the television as the team he was rooting for scored.

"I must just be remembering something Daniel said," he mumbled to himself, shaking his head. Even though he was on edge, still curious about where the thought had come from, Jack found himself growing drowsy. He knew he should return to his quarters, to try to get some sleep, but he really wanted to see who won the match. Mesmerized by the screen, Jack didn't even realize he'd drifted off to sleep.

He was back on the planet, standing in the middle of a square, presumably the one Daniel had asked if he'd visited. Looking around, Jack spotted a wraith-like population, drifting among the buildings. He searched for his team, even called out to them, but no one answered.

"They cannot hear you," a voice spoke behind him.

Whirling around, Jack noticed a tall man in loose clothing, looking a good deal more substantial than the rest of the people he saw around him.

"Ahzka?" he asked.

"Ah, I see you remember," the man said with a smile. "Come, O'Neill, we have much to discuss."

"Wait a second!" Jack yelled, planting his feet firmly on the ground. "I'm not going anywhere until you tell me where the rest of my team is."

"They are not here. We are here," he said, tapping Jack's forehead. "But they are not."

"I'm just imagining this?"

"Not imagining, exactly. We were beings of enhanced abilities. According to your mind's definition we had telepathic capabilities. What you see around you is the resonance of my people, all that is left."

"Resonance," Jack repeated. "What exactly does that mean?"

"Think of it as a lingering trace, like fingerprints left on an object when one has touched it," Ahzka said.

"And what about you? Aren't you one of these lingering traces?"

Ahzka smiled again. "Yes, but my resonance is very strong, that is why I appear to be more substantial as you put it."

Jack looked up in surprise as the dark-haired man used the word he'd associated with him. "So, how is it I'm seeing you? Did you plant somethin' in my head when I was unconscious?"

"No, nothing like that. But your time on my world did open you mind to my thoughts. Come," he urged. "All will be made clear to you."

Reluctantly Jack fell into step behind the alien. He wasn't sure he bought what Ahzka was telling him, but he was curious to see where all this was leading.

"We were once as you are," Ahzka began as they walked through the city. "We were every bit as human, brought here long ago, but were all but forgotten by the ones who left us here," Ahzka said, leading the way through the labyrinth of streets and alleys.

"As I said, we had nearly forgotten the Original Ones, the ones who used symbols to represent their words."

"You mean writing? Yeah, Daniel mentioned something about there being very little writing."

"There used to be more, when we lived closer to the plains. In the Great Flood that took so much from us, most was lost. But we discovered we had our history. It was there in the thoughts and images we all Shared. The mural your friend found was but a memorial to those who had died, and in their memory, we used their symbols."

"So that's why there's no other writing around," Jack said, happy he was going to be able to put Daniel's mind to rest over one mystery.

"Yes. It was no longer necessary, as we all had access to each other's thoughts."

*That had to be damned inconvenient and embarrassing,* Jack thought.

"On the contrary, it is very liberating. When there are no secrets, there are no lies."

"Would ya stop doing that!" Jack demanded irritably. "Where I come from it's called an invasion of privacy!"

"It is my nature, O'Neill. Now it will be yours as well."

"What are you talking about?"

"We did not always have the abilities," Ahzka said. "It has something to do with our existence on this world. As infants we can not touch the minds of others, but over time-time spent here on Yolaris-the Sharing manifests itself."

"The Sharing? You mean being able to read minds?" Jack asked.

"It starts out as flashes of insight, but by the age of ten cycles, most everyone can fully Share."

Jack stopped and scrubbed a hand through his short hair. "Okay, you were saying something about it was in my nature now too? What, because we came to your world? Were Carter, Daniel and Teal'c affected, too?"

"I'm not sure I can explain this as I'm not sure what it is about Yolaris that gives us Sight, and allows us to Share. All I know is that it does."

"Back up here. I need to know *why* you think I've got this Sight now."

"Well for one, we're having this conversation. If you were not Enlightened you would not be able to hear me."

"But I'm sleeping, right? I'm probably making this all up," Jack said.

"Yes, your body rests, but you mind does not. In this state, you are more open to my thoughts."

"Kinda like being hypnotized," Jack said.

"In a way, yes," Ahzka said. They had walked to the edge of the city, to the area where he'd been knocked unconscious. "To be honest, I didn't expect you to become receptive to my thoughts. I now believe your unfettered state while you were unconscious as you call it, allowed whatever it is about this planet to enhance your abilities more quickly. But you have limited Awareness. It is the reason we cannot Share. I can see into your mind, but you cannot see into mine."

"So, what are you saying? I got the trial version?"

Ahzka smiled. "After a fashion, yes."

Jack took in what the man had told him. He wasn't sure if he believed Ahzka or not. After all, it was pretty far fetched. He'd always thought people claiming to have psychic capabilities were just that-claiming. Nothing in his experience had shown him supposed 'revelations' was anything more than the psychics being excellent students of human nature. Telling people what they wanted to hear in such a way they believed their wishes were their destiny.

"I know you are skeptical, O'Neill, but that does not make it any less true. You will see in the days to come as your Sight improves."

Jack wanted to get off the subject of his apparent gift. "So, Ahzka, why'd they build a statue of you, especially when you say everyone would remember you anyway?"

Ahzka actually looked embarrassed. It was the first time since he'd begun explaining to Jack, that he seemed less condescending, and, well, down-to-earth. Or down-to-Yolaris, as the case may be.

"It was my son's idea. Apparently, he felt there should be tangible evidence of my struggle against the Goa'uld. We defeated them the first time they came. The statue was to be a reminder of what we can achieve when we worked together." Jack's head snapped up at the mention of his enemy. "The Goa'uld were here? Are they the ones who destroyed your people?"

"They came in ships, and through what you call the Stargate, wishing us to be their hosts. Apparently our Sight was much coveted by them. They were determined to have our bodies, or destroy us. The first invasion force was small and we defeated them. The second, however, was much larger and more organized. As you can see," Ahzka said, motioning to the ruins surrounding them. "They eventually destroyed us."

"But you fought them," Jack said.

"For a time, yes. Even with our ability to sense the coming attacks, they were too much for us. Their numbers simply overwhelmed us."

Jack nodded his head in sympathy. "Yeah, we've seen it before. They can't have it so no one else is gonna." Jack was silent, staring out at the setting suns. After a few minutes, he turned to Ahzka.

"So why'd you tell me this? I'm not even sure *how* you're telling me this, since I'm asleep on Earth and you're, well, wherever you are now."

Ahzka gave him an enigmatic smile. "If it helps your perception, think of me as a ghost and I came to you because my spirit is restless. Someone needs to remember my people, or we are truly lost. You need to be our memory, now, O'Neill."

"Hey, wait a second!" Jack protested. "Been there! Done that! Don't want to do it again! I've got a limited brain capacity here! I've had a shit-load of information in my head before and it didn't work!"

"We will give you only what is necessary. Do not be alarmed." Before Jack could move away, Ahzka touched Jack's forehead, filling his mind with such a kaleidoscope of images, he felt dizzy.

"Stop!" he yelled, trying to pull away from Azhka's hands.

"Colonel!" Janet called, shaking him violently.

"Whoa! What the hell was that?" Jack asked, focusing on Janet's concerned face.

"I was hoping you could tell me," she said as she straightened up. "I've been trying to get you to wake up for a good two minutes. It was like you were in a trance."

Two minutes? Is that all the time he'd spent with Ahzka? It seemed a lot longer, but perhaps he'd been asleep for some time before Janet tried to rouse him. And had he really encountered the alien? Azhka's hands had certainly felt real. Jack clenched his own hands into fists then relaxed them, trying to assure himself he was truly awake.

"Are you all right, Colonel?"

Jack looked around the rec room, still slightly disoriented. "Yeah, just a weird dream, I guess," he said, passing a hand over his face.

"I think maybe you should come back to the infirmary with me," Janet said.

"No, really, I'm okay. I'm going to go to my quarters now. I promise." His voice was distant.

"Well, just to make sure, I'm escorting you myself. One more episode like that and you *will* be sharing accommodations in the infirmary."

Jack looked up at her use of the word sharing, but quickly recovered before Janet could question his odd look. Sleep sounded good. Nice, dreamless, oblivion.

*********

If sleep was Jack's goal, he didn't accomplish it. Every time he closed his eyes he saw images of Yolaris. At first they had been pleasant, showing how the people had lived a simple but rewarding life. As time passed, however, things had changed. A star in their system had gone nova, and the resulting gravitational stresses shifted the orbit of the planet slightly, altering its position in relation to its two suns.

It was after this cataclysmic event the weather patterns had changed drastically. Normally a temperate world, Yolaris was now besieged by sudden and violent storms, causing a flood that had all but eradicated the inhabitants of the world. It was also about this time the few remaining people discovered they could hear each other's thoughts, and were able to predict the coming storms, allowing them to prepare for the worst. One of those preparations had been to move from their valley home to the hills, and construct the city of Uhlkan.

Jack rolled over, punching his pillow in frustration. The last thing he needed was Yolaris' planetary history 101. All he wanted was to sleep, to shut out the images playing in his mind. Why him? How come aliens seemed to pick him out of the crowd to give their history to? Okay, so it was his own fault for looking into that device on P3R-272, but he certainly didn't ask Ahzka to come knockin' in his head. How come stuff like this didn't happen to Daniel? Someone who could really appreciate it?

The more he tried repressing the visions of Ahzka's people, the more they plagued him. Finally, out of frustration, he just let the images come, hoping he could get a couple of hours of rest if he didn't fight them.

*********

Jack woke the next morning with a groan. His head was pounding, and even the slightest movement seemed to intensify the pain. What the hell had he done last night? This felt like the worst hangover he'd ever had, but he certainly couldn't recall any party. There were only memories of how the Yolarans had opened their city to the newcomers. The ones they hadn't realized they were Goa'uld until it was too late. They'd sensed the duality in their visitors, but that had been the only warning they'd had. Naturally, the Yolarans had fought to protect themselves. He could remember being sickened by visions of the slaughter, and how Ahzka had bravely led the fight against those who sought to destroy that which they could not take.

Slowly sitting up, Jack felt the pain receding, now that his mind had a chance to accustom itself to the new thoughts. He crossed the room, gathering a fresh set of BDUs before heading to the locker room for a shower. Passing the small mirror on the wall, Jack noticed his haggard appearance. He hadn't slept well, and it showed. Hopefully the shower would perk him up. He didn't need to give Janet any more reasons to hold him on the base.

By mid-morning Jack was going stir-crazy. He couldn't remember ever having had such a bad case of cabin fever when confined to the base. Maybe it was because there was nothing wrong with him. If he had some kind of alien virus, or was physically injured, he could understand it. This, however, was totally ludicrous. He felt ready to take on the world, or worlds, provided Hammond would just say so.

He'd tried to talk to Janet, but she remained resolute. Until she could come up with an explanation for his new talents, she didn't want him further away than level 20. What if she never got her answers? Jack wondered. Did that mean he was stuck inside the mountain until Hell froze over?

Out of boredom, Jack not only managed to finish his report on P9X-445 on time, he even cleaned off his desk and straightened the rest of the office. It actually looked like a colonel in the Air Force resided there.

Looking at his watch, Jack realized he hadn't managed to kill much time. Maybe he should go see what the rest of his team was up to. Normally, he wouldn't subject himself to one of Carter or Daniel's lectures, but today was a different story. Anything to distract him would be welcome.

Jack reached Daniel's lab first, knocking on the open door as he strode in.

"Hey, Danny, what's up?"

Daniel's face was buried in some book and it took Jack touching his shoulder to get the man's attention.

Jumping from the unexpected contact, Daniel glared at him. "Jesus, Jack! You scared me half to death!"

"I *did* knock," he said, taking a seat next to Daniel without waiting for an invitation. "Whatcha doin'?"

"I was trying to decipher those symbols from the statue," he said, pushing his glasses back into place.

Jack picked up a shard of pottery Daniel must have gotten on P9X-445, turning it over in his hands, but not really examining it. "They don't really mean anything," he said, still playing with the bit of baked clay.

"What?"

"The symbols on the statue. You were right the first time. They're just there for decoration."

Daniel sat back in his chair, crossing his arms. "And you know this how?"

"I don't know. Just do. Hey, did you know this was part a ceremonial bowl?" Jack asked, handing the piece of pottery back to Daniel.

"Don't change the subject, Jack. Even *I* haven't figured out this stuff. How is it you seem to know so much about P9X-445?"

"Yolaris, actually. They called it Yolaris."

"See? This is what I'm talking about! How the hell do you know that?"

"I don't think you'd believe me if I told you," Jack said, looking around the room for another distraction.

"Try me. I've seen and heard a lot of weird things since I came to work here. I don't think you could shock me."

Jack fiddled with another artifact before answering. "I kinda had this dream last night, but it was more than a dream. I'm not really sure how to explain it."

"Try," Daniel said again, his voice starting to sound exasperated.

"Well, I know I fell asleep, but I was also talking to Ahzka, you know the guy you said was the..."

"Statue, yeah I know. You were right about the guy's name?"

"I found out a lot more than his name. Somehow he gave me the memories of his people. Kinda like that thing on P3R-272."

"But how is that possible? I mean they've been dead for a long time, right?"

"Several centuries from what I can tell. Ya know how you were wondering about the no writing thing? I found out it's because they were telepathic." Jack was back to aimlessly fondling Daniel's specimens. "They weren't always like that though. It started after some kind of planetary shift. I suppose Carter would know more about that."

Daniel took a small statue from Jack's hands, placing it on the table once more, but this time out of his reach. "Well, that would be one explanation," Daniel agreed.

"It's *the* explanation, Daniel. Ahzka told me himself."

"Okay, I have a problem with this," Daniel said. "You tell me you were visited by a guy who died centuries ago, and all the secrets of..."

"Yolaris."

"Thank you. Yolaris are revealed to you. Don't you think that's a little odd?"

"Hey, I don't know why it's always me either. But I'm telling you, he was in here," Jack said, tapping his head.

"You have to admit it sounds a little incredible."

"Yeah," Jack sighed. "I wouldn't believe me either."

"I didn't say I didn't believe you. I just said it sounds a little incredible."

"You'd buy into it too if you were the one who was visited by the ghost of Christmas Past. Look, Daniel, there's no one more skeptical about this kinda junk than me, but how else would I know all this stuff? It's not even my area! This is your thing!"

"Exactly my point. Why you?"

Jack scrubbed his hands over his face. "Maybe Doc Fraiser's theory about being knocked out is right, but I don't see how that would make me know about stuff that happened on a planet, half-way across the galaxy."

Daniel sat for a moment, staring off into space. Jack could see he was trying to access some bit of information he'd stored away, and waited for him to retrieve it.

Daniel tapped his lips then said, "You know, I remember reading something once about people whose psychic abilities increased after they suffered a head injury. Maybe that's what happened to you."

"Come on, Daniel! Ya know that's a load of bullshit!"

"Oh? Then how come you knew where Janet's files were yesterday?"

"Lucky guess?"

"Damn lucky, if you ask me. Okay. Let's try this. I misplaced something the other day. Where'd it go?"

Jack laughed. "What, ya think I'm some side-show act now? How the hell should I know where your notebook from P8Y-767 is?"

"I didn't tell you what was missing."

"You didn't?"

"Didn't."

"Oh."

"Jack, something weird is definitely going on here."

"Ya think?"

"So, are you like reading my mind, or what?"

"No, I'm not reading your mind!" Jack said indignantly. "I don't know how to explain it. It's like it's just there, like a memory or something. I can't predict it or anything."

Daniel sat back, taking in what Jack had told him.

"Ya think I'm nuts?" Jack asked, giving his friend a sheepish look.

"No, it's just that... no."

"Just what?"

"Nothing."

"Daniel! Jeez I hate when you do that!" Jack cried, standing to pace the room.

"Well, it's just that I don't see you as the psychic type."

Jack chuckled. "Yeah, I'm not exactly the poster boy for the Psychic Friends Network. There's got to be some other explanation for this. I'm not ready to turn in my MP-5 for a crystal ball just yet."

Jack had wandered over to some shelves and started picking up objects at random, only to have Daniel take them from his hands and replace them in their original positions.

"You know, Sam might have some ideas about how this happened. Maybe you should go talk to her," Daniel said, practically shooing him out the door.

"Maybe you're right. Hey, if you need any more information on the Yolarans..."

"I know where to find you." Daniel smiled weakly.

"Right. Well, I guess I'll see you later," Jack said, hesitating at the door. As he turned to walk down the corridor, he could have sworn he heard Daniel mutter a heartfelt "Thank, God!"

*********

Sam was staring at her computer screen, organizing data she'd received from the transmissions of the two diagnostic units she'd set up on the planet. It had required re-establishing a wormhole, but she'd already received a wealth of information. Looking up, she noticed Colonel O'Neill lounging against her lab's doorframe, hands jammed in his pockets.

"Sir! Hi!" she called out brightly, flashing him a happy smile. "Everything's working great! You see here? This graph represents the mean temperature of the planet and this one here..." Sam's voice trailed off as she saw Jack wasn't looking at the computer screen. Feeling slightly self-conscious at his stare, Sam felt her face growing warm

"Is something wrong, sir?"

"No, just enjoying the view," he said with a smile, causing Sam's face to redden even further.

Sometimes it was so hard to remain professional, especially when he was flirting. Coughing slightly, she tried to direct Jack's attention to safer ground. "How are you feeling, today? Any after-effects from being unconscious yesterday?"

Jack's grin widened at her attempt at switching topics. "Funny you should mention that. It's kinda the reason I came to talk to you."

"It is? Is something the matter?" she asked, concerned about him. He looked fine, she thought. Maybe a little tired, but other wise the same old colonel.

"Well, I had some kind of weird psychic dream kind of thing happen to me last night." Jack looked at her, waiting for her reaction.

"Psychic dream kind of thing?" she asked, prodding him to elaborate.

"I already talked to Daniel about it, but he thought I should talk to you."

"Sure, anything I can do to help. Have a seat," she offered, gesturing to the other chair.

"Thanks," Jack said, sitting on the office chair, nervously spinning in a half circle then back again. Sam listened as he told her of Ahzka's visit and how skeptical he was of its validity.

"Wow," was all she said when he'd finished.

"Wow? That's it? No, 'with all due respect, sir, I think you're off your rocker?' Or 'gee, sir, I never knew you had such an active imagination?'"

Sam smiled at his estimation of her reaction. She had to admit, he had her personality down pretty well. But she knew him, too. He wouldn't make up something like this. In fact, his embarrassment over the whole thing only proved to her it probably *did* happen and it *wasn't* his imagination.

"I'm not sure what you want me to say," she said. "Daniel's probably the one who could substantiate some of the things you were shown."

"But what about that planetary shift thing? Could that have happened?"

"Oh, absolutely," Sam said. "Any number of things that could knock a planet off its usual orbit. In fact, it's pretty amazing when a planet's orbit remains unchanged."

"I know that, just from watching the sky as a hobby," Jack said. "What I'm asking is could Ahzka's claim that the changes in his people be due to a planetary shift? I mean, what could that have to do with anything?"

"I'm not sure, off-hand," Sam admitted, "But I'll look into it, sir." Sam waited for Jack to leave, but he remained seated. Turning back to her computer, she expected him to get the idea, but Jack was engrossed in playing with one of the parts of the naquada reactor she had spread on a table.

"Uh, sir? This may take a while," she hinted.

"That's okay, Carter. I've got nowhere I gotta be."

"Great," she mumbled to herself as she got back to the task at hand. She'd almost forgotten he was there until she heard the dreadful word 'whoops,' uttered from his direction. Turning quickly, Sam saw Jack scrabbling on the floor, chasing after the part he'd dropped.

"Sir?" she said, getting down on all fours herself, retrieving the errant part before it could roll under a file cabinet. "I *really* can handle things from here," she said, still on her hands and knees. Following his gaze, Sam looked down, realizing she hadn't put a T-shirt on that morning and she was giving the colonel quite an eyeful. Embarrassed, she sat up, trying to retain her composure.

Before she could speak again, Jack said, "Remember that other piece of the reactor you couldn't find? A long, kinda rod thingy?"

"Yeah," she acknowledged. "It's been missing ever since I got it back from the NID guys. I know it was here because I saw it when I first checked the case it was transported in. When I started putting the reactor back together, I couldn't find it. I've turned the base upside down and I still haven't found it. That's why the reactor's still in pieces."

"Did you check the box?" Jack asked, helping her to stand.

Placing her hands on her hips, Sam fought the childish urge to say, "No, Colonel, I never thought to look in the box!" Instead, she held back her snide comment and answered honestly, "Several times."

"Where is it?" he asked.

"The box? I put it over here, under the table." Following him, Sam watched as he retrieved the container, fishing around the inside perimeter with his hand.

"Ah ha!" he cried, pulling the semi-circular rod from its hiding place.

Sam was speechless. How many times had she checked that box? Dumped it upside down? How the hell did Jack just waltz into her lab, walk over to it and pull out the rod as if it was a rabbit in a hat?

"I... I don't know what to say!" she said, peering in the box herself, feeling like she was a victim of slight-of-hand. "How did you do that?"

Jack shrugged. "Dunno. Just when we were going after that gizmo, something popped into my head about you missing another piece. It's the same color as the box, and it was wedged in the corner. I can see how it got over-looked.

Sam stood there, still gaping at him. "Well, thank you, sir," she said when she found her voice once more. "I sure wish you could have found this about two weeks ago when I started pulling my hair out and doubting my sanity."

"Well, given recent events, I can relate to the sanity thing," he said, grinning. "And I couldn't have found it two weeks ago," he added. "I've only been psychic since yesterday. So, ya believe me now?"

"Sir, I didn't doubt you..."

"Come on, Carter! This is me you're talking to!"

Sam looked slightly embarrassed. "It's not that I don't believe you," she said. "It's just that the probability of you suddenly having developed extrasensory perception, seems a bit... remote."

"Daniel thinks it's because I got conked on the head."

"And from what you told me, didn't this Ahzka say you were more susceptible because you were unconscious?" Sam asked.

Jack nodded. "He thought it was one explanation."

"Maybe it's the answer," she agreed. "Or at least part of it."

"But you still don't believe me," Jack said, handing her the rod he'd recovered.

"Sir, since I've joined the SGC there have been a good number of things we've experienced that we can't explain. As a scientist it's difficult for me to accept things on blind faith, but I'm trying to keep an open mind."

"Thanks, Sam. That's all I ask." Jack stood in the middle of her lab, staring at her as if she were supposed to come up with a rationalization while he waited.

"Uh, sir? I *really* have a lot of work to do."

"Sure," he said, hands back in his pockets, looking around the room.

Sam shifted her feet, crossing her arms over her chest. "Maybe you could see what Teal'c is up to," she suggested, not wanting to inflict Jack on Daniel again.

"Yeah, I suppose I could," he said, taking his time in walking to the door. "See ya later, Carter."

"Yes, sir," she said, trying not to be obvious as she closed the door behind him. Was there anything worse than a bored Jack O'Neill?

*********

Jack assumed Teal'c would be the easiest of the three to find, especially given his size, but he turned out to be the most elusive. After several inquiries, he was directed to a section of the armory where he found Teal'c puttering around with a zat'nik'tel.

"Hey, Teal'c. What's up?" Jack called as he approached him.

"Nothing is up, O'Neill. At the moment, this zat'nik'tel is down," he said, motioning to the pieces spread on the table before him.

"Was that a joke? Good one, Teal'c!" Jack said, giving Teal'c's bicep a playful punch. The Jaffa simply glanced at him, raising his customary eyebrow. Jack was beginning to feel like someone's pesky little brother. One member of his team being too busy for him he could see, but when all three started brushing him off, he started getting a little paranoid.

"So, whatcha doin'?" Jack asked, sticking his head in Teal'c's line of vision.

"I am attempting to increase the range of this weapon by altering its power source."

"Sounds tricky," Jack said, leaning against the table.

"Extremely." Teal'c's hands looked impossibly large to perform such a delicate task, but his movements were sure and steady. Jack leaned in closer, causing Teal'c to stop his adjustments.

"O'Neill, this is a highly volatile substance, and at the moment you are placing the base in grave danger should I drop it," Teal'c warned.

"Right," Jack said, backing off. He watched Teal'c replace a few more parts to the zat. *Well this is about as much fun as watching paint dry,* he thought, and started fiddling with Teal'c's tools.

"Whaddya say we blow off this zat thing and go box a few rounds?" Jack suggested, raising his fists, dancing from foot-to-foot.

"I am occupied," Teal'c said, stating the obvious.

"Yeah, but you can come back to this. Waddaya say? A little exercise to get the ol' blood pumping?"

"My blood is circulating very well," Teal'c said. "My symbiote sees to all of my body's autonomic functions."

Jack dropped his hands. "Ya know, you're just no fun anymore, Teal'c," he said with an exasperated sigh.

"I did not realize I ever was fun."

"Ya know what I mean! And by the way, the problem you're having is because this capacitor thing is too small. It can't channel that much energy," Jack said, pointing to the part Teal'c had just replaced.

"Perhaps you are correct, O'Neill," Teal'c said. "I shall have to find a substitute."

"Of course I'm right! Haven't you heard? I'm Karnac the Magnificent now. I see all and tell all!"

Teal'c's face screwed up into a confused frown.

"It's from The Tonight Show. Back when Carson was the host," Jack tried to explain. At Teal'c's continued puzzlement, he added, "He did this routine where he'd put a sealed envelope to his head and reveal the answer before he read the question." Jack still wasn't getting any reaction. "Oh, never mind!"

Teal'c bent back to his task, completely ignoring him. Jack threw up his hands. "Why do I even bother?" he mumbled. "Guess the next stop on the Magical Mystery Tour would be General Hammond or Doc Fraiser," he said, hoping Teal'c would try to stop him. When he didn't, Jack wandered out the door muttering, "Whatever!"

*********

Sam entered the commissary looking for coffee. She was not at all surprised to see Daniel sitting at SG-1's usual table near the doors.

"Hey, Daniel," she called as she passed him on the way to the coffee pots. Retrieving her beverage, she joined him at the table. "I thought you'd be up to your eyeballs in data from our last mission."

"I was until Jack attacked. He kind of broke my concentration."

"You too? I was doing great until he showed up and started playing with the reactor."

Teal'c walked into the room, spying his teammates, he nodded and made a beeline for coffee as well.

Sam and Daniel exchanged glances. "Looks like Jack struck again," Daniel said as Teal'c joined them.

"O'Neill has the capacity for being a very annoying person," Teal'c said, joining them at the table.

"You can say that again," Sam agreed, taking a sip of her coffee.

"O'Neill has the capacity for being a very annoying person."

Sam and Daniel both burst out laughing. It wasn't until Sam noticed a small curve to Teal'c's mouth she realized he'd done it on purpose. She sat back in her chair, shaking her head. "Well, if nothing else, the colonel's humor is starting to rub off on you."

"And this would be a good thing?" Daniel asked with a smile.

"Oh, come on, Daniel, we really should give the guy a break. After all, Janet won't let him leave and there's really nothing for him to do if we're not prepping for a mission. He did all that paperwork last week."

"Could be another reason he's-as Teal'c so eloquently put it-annoying," Daniel said.

"So, what do you think about this psychic thing? Do you think he really had a 'vision' of this Ahzka?"

"Well, he sure seemed to know a lot about the planet. I mean I guess he could have made it up, but it seemed to ring a little too true to me. All the stuff about the statue, the reason there was no writing, it makes sense. And why would he make it up? Jack's a jokester, but I don't see him going to all this trouble-trying to convince all of us-just for a laugh."

"I agree," Sam said, placing her mug on the table. "But like I told him, I don't see how something like this could happen over night, well, practically."

"Have you talked to Janet? I wonder if she's made any headway in finding out what's causing this?"

"Not yet, but maybe on the way back to my lab I'll stop and see her," Sam said, standing. "I'll see you guys later. Hopefully I won't run into the colonel in the hall!"

As she left the commissary, Sam heard Daniel yell, "Hey! You've had stealth training, haven't you?"

*********

Janet sat back and rubbed her tired eyes. Colonel O'Neill's case still puzzled her, and she didn't like things that couldn't be explained. She liked order. Nice, plausible reasons why symptoms manifested themselves. The trouble was, medicine was rarely like that-especially at the SGC-but that didn't stop her from trying. That's what made her a good doctor, she realized. There was no need for false modesty, especially when she was alone. She was good, and she knew it. Otherwise she wouldn't be working in a top-secret facility, having first contact with alien technologies.

"So why can't I figure this out?" she mumbled aloud, reaching for her umpteenth cup of coffee. Having Jack find the reports was uncanny enough. But knowing things about areas of the planet he hadn't even seen was pushing the bounds of her belief. If Daniel hadn't confirmed Jack's observations, she would have suspected Jack was making it up. The thought of Jack O'Neill suddenly being psychic seemed ridiculous. Of all the members of SG-1, he was the last person she'd expect to be instantly intuitive.

Although, now that she thought about it, Jack did seem to have unusual insight when it came to tactical situations. More often than not he relied on his gut reaction, and it rarely failed him. Perhaps the events yesterday were simply an extension of that ability.

Leaning back over the MRI she'd taken the day before she compared it to one from two weeks ago. They looked identical, but as she began comparing the images, she noticed a slightly wider band of color that indicated active brain function. The more recent of the two showed a minor increase in brain activity, so small she never would have noticed it on a normal viewing of the scan. Could this be the explanation?

Janet was interrupted by a knock on her open door. Looking up, she saw Sam grinning at her.

"Got a minute?" she asked.

"Yeah, I could use a break," Janet said, sitting back in her chair. "What's up?"

Sam took a seat next to Janet. "Are these the colonel's?" she asked, indicating the MRIs.

"Yeah. I think I might have found something. See this area here?" Janet asked, pointing out a section of the picture. "Notice anything different about it from this one?"

Sam compared the images. "Yeah, the band on this one is bigger. But what does it mean?"

"This shows active brain function. That one is from two weeks ago, and this one is the one I took yesterday."

"So the colonel's brain function has increased since last week?" Sam asked.

"Apparently. And I bet if I took another scan today, the band would be wider still."

"Maybe you should test that theory. It's not like he's doing anything."

"What do you mean?" Janet asked.

"Oh, just that he's been haunting my lab and Daniel's. Turns out he looked up Teal'c as well. And he's been telling us about these visions he's been having of Yolaris."

"Yolaris?"

"According to the colonel, that's what the natives called P9X-445," Sam said, handing the pictures back to Janet. "You know, like Daniel said, it's hard to believe, and yet the things he told us make sense. Some of the details he mentioned aren't something he'd make up."

"Like what?"

"Well, he told me how the Yolarans used the weather to battle the Goa'uld."

"The weather?" Janet asked, wondering how the weather could be an ally.

"Actually, it was pretty clever. Being able to predict the sudden storms, they'd lure the Goa'uld into an area known for flash floods at a time a storm was due to hit. Basically all they had to do was let nature take its course. He said it worked for a while, but it wasn't enough. There were simply too many Goa'uld."

"You're right. That doesn't sound like something he'd invent. I don't think he'd have gone for something quite so passive."

"He said they were a peaceful people and had no real way to defend themselves. It's amazing they held out as long as they did."

"You sound like you believe him," Janet observed.

Blowing out a breath, Sam said, "I guess I do. At least partially. I guess I'm just having some trouble with *how* he got the information. If he'd seen evidence of what he told me, it would be a different story."

"But *seeing* in a different way is hard for you to accept?"

"Yeah, I suppose. I think being a scientist makes me naturally skeptical. I want proof. I never was big in the blind faith department. What about you? You think something on that planet made him psychic?"

"Officially? No, I don't have any tangible evidence other than a slightly varied brain scan. Unofficially, though, I think it could be a possibility. Colonel O'Neill's little demonstration yesterday was pretty convincing."

"So, maybe you should give him another MRI. If it's altered again, that's probably a pretty good indication he's not making this up," Sam said.

"An EEG would be a good idea, too. Any idea where he is?"

"Last I heard he was with Teal'c in the armory. I think paging him would be your best bet," Sam said, standing. "While I'd love to stick around and listen to the colonel express his delight at more tests, I think I should get back to the lab. I need to look into that planetary shift thing he mentioned."

Janet was about to ask what she meant when Sam held up her hand. "Don't ask. If it pans out, you'll hear about it in a briefing. See you later."

Watching Sam walk out of the infirmary, Janet shook her head. If only she could walk away from Jack's forthcoming tirade at having another MRI. Some days it sucked being a doctor.

*********

Daniel entered his lab, cautiously looking around for any sign of Jack. He'd heard Janet's page for the colonel, but he couldn't be too careful. Breathing a sigh of relief, he placed his over-sized mug of coffee on his desk. He'd been trying to catalog the artifacts he'd brought back from Yolaris all morning, but Jack's little interruption had put a stop to that.

"Yolaris," he said aloud, reaching for a journal. "Now he's got me calling the planet by that name," he said, shaking his head. Well, it was better than all those numbers and letters, he thought. He didn't care if it was a binary system the computer used or not. It was damn confusing.

As he reached for his notebook, Daniel knocked a VCR tape to the floor. Picking it up, he realized it was the tape from the UAV Jack had given him prior their last mission.

"I must not have watched the whole thing," he said to himself, noticing the tape was only partially viewed. Curious, he popped the tape into the machine, pressing the remote. There were aerial views of the planet, same as the first part of the tape. The counter at the bottom of the screen indicated the radio-controlled unit was now almost twenty klicks from the Stargate. Daniel could see why he hadn't proceeded. Even at that distance from the 'gate, there was only more of the same rolling prairie with the occasional outcropping of trees and bluffs. The most significant information on the video was the location of the city, and that was fairly close to the beginning.

Daniel reached forward to turn off the monitor when he noticed a flash of a shadow. Up until now, there hadn't been any signs of life. No birds, no animals of any kind. Now that he thought about it, there hadn't even been any insects on the planet when they'd visited. So what had caused the shadow? The UAV? Daniel rewound the tape and watched it again. No, it was the wrong shape to be the shadow from the aerial unit. He backed the tape up once more, this time advancing it in slow motion. When he got to the shadow, he paused. Walking closer to the monitor, he tried to make out the shape of the shadow. Daniel's eyes widened as the outline registered.

"Oh my God," Daniel whispered. Shaking his head, he ejected the tape, and grabbed it from VCR. He didn't even bother to close the door of his lab as he raced toward the elevators and General Hammond's office.

*********

General Hammond looked up from his paperwork at the insistent knocking at his door. *Someone's in a damn hurry,* he thought to himself, sighing as he placed the report he was reading back into a folder.

"Come!" he called, surprised when a disheveled Daniel Jackson practically tumbled into his office.

"General!" he gasped, trying to catch his breath. "I've got something you have to see! That the rest of SG-1 has to see!"

"Calm down, son. Now what's this all about?" Hammond drawled.

"Sir, I was going over the video the UAV took of P9X-445 and I think I found something! I think there are Goa'uld on the planet!" Daniel spoke in a rush as if he couldn't get the information out fast enough.

"Are you sure?" Hammond asked, standing.

"I'm not positive, but the shadow I saw on the tape certainly looked like the helmet of a Serpent Guard. That's why I wanted you and the others to have a look at it," Daniel said, holding the tape protectively in his left hand.

Hammond reached for the phone, paging SG-1 to the briefing room. After the announcement, he turned to Daniel. "Dr. Jackson? Any theories on why the Goa'uld would be on that planet?"

"Well, sir, I'm not sure. From what I observed, there are no people for hosts. To be honest, I haven't seen the whole tape. We were more concerned about the vicinity around the 'gate when we initially planned this mission," Daniel looked a little sheepish at his admission. "It's possible there's a population we were unaware of."

"I don't believe there were any signs of naquada in the preliminary report," Hammond commented more to himself than Daniel. "Anything else the Goa'uld might be after?"

"Well, sir, that's what I'm hoping the rest of the team might be able to answer. I think Jack in particular," he added, sounding a bit embarrassed.

"You don't sound too sure of yourself, Dr. Jackson. Why specifically Colonel O'Neill?"

Daniel fiddled with the tape in his hand, looking down. "He told me about a dream he had last night, that seemed more of a 'vision' than just an ordinary dream."

"What kind of a vision?" the general asked.

Looking back up, Daniel said, "He claims to have been visited by Ahzka, the man he mentioned in the debriefing yesterday. I'm not sure I believe *how* he got the information, but he seems to know a lot about the planet. Things none of us could have known."

"You mean like the business yesterday with the statue," Hammond stated.

"Yes. Things Jack normally wouldn't have a clue about. Not to mention Janet's missing files."

"Sounds like whatever happened yesterday is still affecting him," Hammond said, rubbing his jaw. "Perhaps I should include Dr. Fraiser in the briefing as well. Hopefully she's found some answers as to why Colonel O'Neill seems to have this new insight."

"I know Sam was going to go talk to her. Maybe together they've come up with a theory."

"Very well, Dr. Jackson. Why don't you get things set up? I imagine the rest of your team will be here at any minute."

*********

Jack was still lying with his head in the MRI scanner when the call for SG-1 came over the public address system.

*Yes!* Jack found himself thinking. Finally there was something he could do other than being subjected to more useless tests for the Doc.

Janet put her hand on his arm, as if she was the one suddenly psychic. "Don't move or we'll have to start this all over again. And don't give me any argument! It's not the end of the world if you're five minutes late to that briefing."

Jack sighed. As much as he hated to admit it, she was right. The last thing he wanted to do was have her declare he needed *another* MRI.

"Just another three minutes," Janet soothed.

Damn! They seemed like the longest three minutes of his life. What could Hammond want them for? He didn't really care at this point as long as it was something to do.

"Okay, Colonel, you can get up now."

Jack sat up so fast he felt a wave of vertigo.

"Take it easy, sir," Janet cautioned as he jumped down off the exam table. "I just got a page as well, and I'm assuming the general wants an update on your condition. It'll take me a minute to gather my data and get this latest MRI developed. Tell the general I'll be there ASAP."

"Will do, Doc," Jack called as he rushed out the door. The sooner he got away from the infirmary, the better.

*********

Jack burst into the briefing room as Daniel was about to start.

"Nice of you to join us, Colonel," Hammond said, obviously displeased he was late.

"Sorry, but Doc was doing some more tests. She said to tell you she'd be here as soon as she has the results."

Hammond sighed. "Very well. She can be filled in later. Dr. Jackson has made a discovery he feels we all should see. Take a seat, Colonel."

Jack nodded and sat down next to Teal'c. Looking across the table, he gave Sam a quick inquisitive glance. Almost imperceptibly she shrugged her shoulders, turning her attention to Daniel.

"Okay," Daniel said, starting the VCR. "When I was in my lab, looking for a journal, I accidentally knocked the tape from the UAV onto the floor. When I picked it up, I noticed I hadn't watched the whole thing, so I put it in and started viewing it again."

Jack felt himself growing impatient. Why did Daniel always have to make every little event into a monumental occasion? He watched as the aerial view displayed more of the same grassy plains the earlier part of the tape had shown. He kept waiting for something, but nothing happened.

"I'm assuming there's a point to this?" Jack asked, looking at Daniel.

"Just wait," he said. A few more minutes passed and still nothing different than the rest of the tape.

"Dr. Jackson?" Hammond prompted.

"I, uh, I guess I rewound it a little further than I thought," Daniel stammered. "Wait! There! Did you see that?"

Sam looked around the room to the other men. "See what, Daniel?"

He backed up the tape and said, "That shadow, just to the left."

"It's probably just the shadow from the UAV. Happens all the time," Jack said. "Especially with two suns."

"That's what I thought at first but take another look," Daniel said as he rewound the tape then advanced it frame-by-frame until the shadow appeared. Pausing the video, he looked at the occupants of the room. "See anything now?"

Jack stood up, moving closer to the monitor. "Is that what I *think* it is?" he asked.

"If you guessed Serpent Guard, then you're the big winner," Daniel said.

Teal'c also moved closer. "It does indeed appear to be the outline of the helmet of a Serpent Guard."

"Holy buckets," Jack exclaimed with a low whistle. "So what's Apophis want with this planet? I mean it's got a nice view, but I doubt he's thinking of setting up a hunting lodge."

"Teal'c, do you remember this planet from your time with Apophis?" Hammond asked.

"I do not. However, that does not mean he didn't know of its existence. Perhaps it is only recently he has become interested in it."

"Major Carter, did you take any soil samples while you were on the planet?" Hammond questioned.

"Just a few basic ones. Nothing out of the ordinary from what I could tell."

"No evidence of naquada?"

"No, sir, not even a trace. It's one of the first things I look for," Sam said.

"Well, that's what the preliminary reports said as well," Hammond sighed. "I guess I was hoping for an obvious reason Apophis' Jaffa might be on that planet."

"Sir, request permission to do some further recon on Yolaris," Jack said, causing the general to frown.

"Yolaris?"

"Uh, yeah," Daniel said. "Jack claims it's what the natives called it."

"I don't claim it's what they called it! They *did* call it Yolaris!" Jack answered angrily.

"Gentlemen," the general said, holding up his hands. "Let's not argue over this. Colonel? Since you've told your team you've experienced further information concerning P9X-445, perhaps while we're waiting for Dr. Fraiser you could enlighten me."

"Funny you should use the term enlighten, sir," Jack said, feeling rather foolish speaking aloud what he was beginning to accept. *Something* had happened to him on that planet, but after the events of the day, he was starting to wonder if what Ahzka had told him could actually be true-that he was really experiencing a type of increased mental awareness.

"Why do you say that?" Hammond asked.

"Well, it's one of the words Ahzka used in reference to my-for lack of a better term-enhanced perception." The general shifted in his chair, and Jack could tell he wasn't buying it.

"Look, sir, I can't explain it either. It was sort of like a dream, and yet it wasn't. When Ahzka touched me, I felt it, as if someone had actually laid hands on me. I knew there was no way my body was on Yolaris, and yet I *was* there." Jack ran his hands through his short hair. "I wish I could express this better. I could ask him questions, and he'd answer, well as much as he *would* answer. He was rather cryptic, sir. But he did say it had something to do with the planet, that his people became telepathic after a cataclysmic accident. A star in their system went nova, pushing Yolaris slightly out of its regular orbit. It was after that the people began to notice a change. Not only in the weather, but in themselves. And it didn't happen immediately. He said the change was gradual, and up until the end of their civilization, it still was. People weren't born with the ability, it came over time."

General Hammond nodded his head as if agreeing with his statements. "What you're telling me sounds plausible, but if what you say is true, why hasn't the rest of SG-1 been affected?"

"Well, apparently it was like the doc said. My being unconscious seemed to accelerate the process, at least according to Ahzka. He said if my natural abilities hadn't been increased, I wouldn't have been able to interact with him."

Hammond looked around the room. "Is anyone else having a problem with the validity of this information?"

Sam looked down at her hands folded on her report, not offering an opinion. Teal'c looked back at the General with a raised eyebrow, which Jack took to mean anything from acceptance to disbelief. Daniel fiddled with the VCR remote.

"From what evidence I've found on the planet, what Jack says makes sense. But I have to admit I'm having a little trouble with *how* he says he got the information," said Daniel.

"Great! So ya all think I'm nuts!" Jack cried.

"Colonel, no one is accusing you of being unstable, at least any more than usual," Hammond added, trying to keep the grin from his face. "It's just a little hard to accept what you tell us as being fact, especially when there's no way to verify most of what you've told us."

"Then let us go back to the planet, sir," Jack said. "We'll do a recon to see what the Serpent Guards are up to, and maybe I'll be able to find some evidence to convince you the things I've seen are true."

Dr. Fraiser entered the meeting, carrying a folder. "I'm sorry, sir. I wanted the latest results from Colonel O'Neill's tests before I joined you.

"Did you find anything, Doctor?"

Janet looked up at Sam. "Remember the MRIs I showed you earlier? Well take a look at this one." Janet spread the pictures across the table starting with the oldest and progressing to the most recent.

"Wow, that's incredible!" Sam said, looking stunned. "This is just since last night?"

"Yeah, and take a look at his EEG," she said, pulling out a long strip of paper.

Jack crossed behind the two women, trying to get a look at the pictures laid out before them. "Uh, ladies? Hello! I'm right here!" he said, waving his arms in an exaggerated manner. "Either one of you care to explain?"

Janet turned to him, but her gaze touched on the others in the room, including them in her account. "This is your MRI from two weeks ago, same as it's been since I've been here. This one is from when you returned from your mission, and this one is from today," she said, pointing to the last picture. "Notice anything different?"

Jack's eyes roamed the images. "Well, yeah, this one's got all that yellow on it. There's a little on the other ones, but a lot more on this one."

"Very good!" Janet exclaimed as if she were praising a student for adding two and two.

"Okay, so what does it mean?" Jack asked.

"It's a measurement of active brain function. It's increased by about one quarter."

"So, that means I'm smarter?" Jack inquired, certainly not feeling any more intelligent at the moment.

"No, sir," Sam said, smiling. "There's huge portion of our brains that we don't have access to while awake. This just shows you've gained entrance to a part of your brain you normally reach only when you're sleeping."

"Or unconscious," Janet added pointedly.

"Dr. Fraiser, I'm not sure I understand the implications of this," Hammond said, motioning her to a seat next to Sam.

"Well, sir, Colonel O'Neill has access to parts of his brain most of us usually can't tap into while we're conscious. His EEG also indicated that the area of the brain affected, is also the one associated with high amounts of extra sensory perception. I realize the topic of ESP is a highly debatable one, but it's one explanation for Colonel O'Neill's sudden talent."

"I myself often reach this state when I am deep in Kel No Reem," Teal'c said.

"Yeah, but you're not finding people's missing car keys," Jack groused, slumping back into his chair.

"I believe it is my symbiote who prevents me from accessing that portion of my brain. Even though I control the level of the meditation, my symbiote still controls access to certain areas of my mind."

"Do you think Jaffa are capable of ESP?" Janet asked.

"I am uncertain," Teal'c said. "To my knowledge no one has ever exhibited such abilities."

"People, I think the issue now is more what the Serpent Guards are doing on that planet," Hammond said. At Janet's puzzled looked, he assured her, "I'll fill you in later, Doctor. The question I have for you is, do you believe Colonel O'Neill's symptoms to be a result of his exposure to something on that planet?"

"Well, since I have no concrete evidence to base an answer on, sir, it's just my opinion."

"And what is your opinion?"

Janet looked around the briefing room. "I believe that there was something on that planet that affected the colonel, but not the others. Whether it was lack of exposure on their parts, or as the colonel has said, his state of unconsciousness, I'm not certain."

"Colonel, perhaps it would be wise if you sat this one out," Hammond said, giving Jack a sympathetic look.

"General! You can't! Come on! I've been goin' nuts stuck here! Uh, no pun intended."

"Jack, Dr. Fraiser just said this change in you is probably due to something on that planet. I can't in good conscience send you back there."

"Sir, with all due respect, who else do you have that knows about Yolaris like I do?"

"Uh, Jack does have a point, General," Daniel said.

"Major Carter?" Hammond asked, offering her a chance to voice her thoughts.

"I agree with Daniel, sir. Colonel O'Neill's expertise would be missed if he wasn't on this mission."

Hammond sighed. "Doctor, is there any danger to Colonel O'Neill if he goes back to the planet?"

Janet thought for a moment. "He would be exposing himself to whatever caused this in the first place, but it's not really what I'd call dangerous, sir. I think the worst that could happen is he'd become more intuitive."

"Ya see, General? Even Doc agrees!" Jack was sitting on the edge of his chair, forearms resting on the black and red table, looking as if he were about to race from the room the minute Hammond gave the okay.

"Against my better judgment..."

"Thank you, sir!" Jack said enthusiastically, practically leaping from his seat.

"Colonel, if you please, I'm not through yet," Hammond admonished him.

"Sorry, sir," Jack said, sitting once more, trying to look contrite.

Clearing his throat, the general continued. "As I was saying, against my better judgment, I'm sending all of SG-1 back to the planet to do some recon. I want to know what Apophis is up to, and how many of his Jaffa are on the planet. You'll depart at 0800 tomorrow morning. And before you start to argue with me, Colonel, I want you all to get a good night's rest before this mission. Any questions?" The room was silent. "Very well. Dismissed."

*********

Jack relaxed into his sofa, cradling a bottle of beer. *Damn, it feels good to be home,* he thought. Since Janet had cleared him for the mission the next day, she had no grounds on which to keep him on the base. Besides, if Hammond wanted him rested, he had a better shot at it in his own bed rather than the hard bunk in his base quarters.

Jack finished off the bottle in his hand and contemplated another. "Better not," he said aloud, setting the empty on the coffee table before him. He didn't want to be anything less than his best tomorrow, especially with the general watching his actions so closely. He was ready for this mission. Hell, he was ready for it now, but he supposed the general had a point. It was going to be a good long hike to the area where the shadow was detected. Who knew how much further any other Jaffa would be?

Jack had no idea what they'd find. If the shadow were from a lone Jaffa who'd crash-landed on the planet, he would have used the Stargate to get home, wouldn't he? And yet he found the lack of others strange. If they thought they were alone, there certainly wouldn't be any need to hide.

He was still going over possible scenarios as he stood to clean up the remains of his dinner. Jack had a sudden flash, a glimpse of something so powerful he felt dizzy. Falling back onto the couch, he held the palms of his hands to his eyes, hoping to dispel the sharp pain that stabbed inside his head. As quickly as it came, it was gone, leaving him with just a split-second image of Serpent Guards clustered around the entrance to a cave.

Trying to control his rapid breathing, Jack let his hands drop as the pain in his head receded.

"So, Ahzka, a little more of your legacy?" he asked, wiping perspiration from his brow. Jack didn't know if he expected an answer to his question or not, but he wouldn't have been surprised if he'd received one.

"Let's try this again," he mumbled to himself as he stood once more. This time there was no disorientation. Picking up the grease stained pizza box with one hand, he grabbed the two empty beer bottles with the other.

"Must have been a fluke," he said, shaking his head as he entered the kitchen. Jack dumped his trash and reached for the light switch as another image assailed him. This one was just as quick, but didn't produce the level of pain the other had. Now he saw people, specifically women being herded into the cave.

Jack was still gripping the doorframe when his eyesight returned to normal. This time he remembered a bit more of the area around the cave, which appeared to be high in some hills. *No doubt to avoid all that rain,* Jack thought. If he had another flash, he was going to have to pay more attention to the surrounding landmarks so he'd recognize where the Jaffa were holed up. At that thought, Jack laughed out loud.

"Jeez, it sure didn't take you long to buy into this mumbo jumbo, O'Neill," he scolded himself, running a hand through his hair. Even alone he felt foolish admitting the images he'd seen were of a precognitive nature. What was he going to feel like when he tried to explain to his team that he'd had a revelation about where the Jaffa were? Well, they'd followed his hunches before. Perhaps he could convince them this was just a particularly strong hunch.

Feeling a little uncertain, Jack wasn't sure what he should do next. Afraid he'd be struck with more visions, he resisted going to bed, but he knew he'd have to go soon. He had an early wake-up call to make it to the base in time for the pre-mission briefing. Still, he found himself procrastinating going to sleep, and puttering around with arranging his CDs. Alphabetizing his music was something Carter would do. He smiled to himself, wondering if it were too late to call her or Daniel. No doubt they'd made it to bed at a reasonable hour as Hammond had ordered.

Letting out a sigh, Jack stuck the rest of the CD cases onto his shelf at random, abandoning his attempts at organization. Hopefully tonight he'd just sleep and not take another fifty-cent tour of Yolaris.

*********

Sam emerged from out of the shimmering event horizon, almost crashing into Jack.

"Hey, easy, Carter. First step's a doozy," he said, griping her by her upper arms.

She was still slightly disoriented as she felt a blush creep up into her cheeks. She tried so hard to avoid even casual contact with Jack afraid she wouldn't be able to mask her feelings for him. Not that Teal'c or Daniel had said anything or even intimated they knew there was *something* between her and Jack. It was more her own fear of appearing like a love sick teenager that helped keep her barriers up. Of course Jack didn't help matters when the more she pulled back, the more determined he seemed to be to initiate any physical contact with her.

"You okay?"

"Fine, sir," she smiled at him, backing away. "Some days it's a little rougher ride than others."

Jack nodded, giving her a brief smile in return. "Daniel? Teal'c? You make it through okay?"

"My journey was uneventful," Teal'c replied, checking his staff weapon.

"Same trip, different planet," Daniel said with a grin, as he awkwardly adjusted his gun. Sam tried to hide her own smile. Daniel was *definitely* spending too much time with Jack.

"All righty, then. According to the telemetry from the UAV, we should be heading in that direction," he said, pointing ahead and slightly to the left. They gathered their packs and weapons and fell into step with Jack.

"How far away do you think they are?" Daniel asked, adjusting the brim of his hat to keep the glare from the larger sun from his eyes.

"Well, the UAV was about twenty klicks when it registered the shadow, right?"

"Yeah."

"So, I'm guessing not much more than another five. We just have to figure out which direction. Keep your eyes peeled, kids. Just because the first evidence we saw was a good distance from the 'gate doesn't mean they're not around."

Sam noticed Teal'c raise his eyebrow at the mention of peeled eyes, but he wisely remained silent. A bank of dark clouds moved quickly across the sky, almost completely blocking the rays of the smaller sun.

"Uh, Carter? You check the Weather Channel before we shipped out?"

Sam looked up at the sky, watching the rapid movement of low, black clouds. "The information we received this morning would certainly have been dated, sir, but from what I've been able to extrapolate given the UAV's observations and those from the equipment we set up the other day..."

"Ah!" Jack cut her off, waving a hand in front of her face. "Just tell me, is it gonna rain, and if so, how much?"

"Well, Colonel, judging from the appearance of the clouds, I'd say rain was a definite possibility."

"Nothing like a good firm maybe," Jack grumbled. "Okay, campers, keep your rain gear handy. Lets go."

What the hell did he expect her to do? He knew she couldn't give him any definitive answers when it came to the weather. Talk about an inexact science. Sam felt her earlier good mood deteriorating, but she knew it wasn't just his quip about the weather. She was worried about him. Jack was his usual anxious-to-get-going self at the briefing that morning, but he was also uncharacteristically quiet. When Daniel casually asked him how he slept, Jack seemed almost evasive, as if he didn't want to discuss his night. He appeared to have slept, but there was something off about him as well. She doubted the others had sensed it, but then they hadn't turned Jack-watching into an art form. Sam wanted to ask him if something was wrong, but didn't want to draw any unnecessary attention to her observation of him in front of the others. Instead, she settled for keeping her eye on him.

The group was silent as they trudged over the grassy plains, making it obvious something was definitely up with Jack. He and Daniel would have been baiting and teasing each other by now had this been a routine recon. Jack would have include her and Teal'c in his sarcastic observations, distracting them just enough to make the hike seem shorter.

Sam realized Daniel must have sensed Jack's mood as well, as he looked over at her with a questioning glance. Sam shrugged her shoulders uncertainly before she turned her gaze to the ground once more.

Daniel increased his pace, catching up with Jack. Clearing his throat, he said, "So, Jack, what's up? I don't think you've been this speechless since Sam's incident on P3X-595."

"Thanks, Daniel," Sam muttered. "That mission *could* have stayed in the past."

"Oh, come on, Sam! You'd think it was funny if it'd happened to one of us," Daniel said.

She had to admit, if she'd come across Daniel or Jack in that state of inebriation, practically naked, she would have found it humorous too. And she wouldn't let them forget about it any more than her teammates had let her. Ducking her head, Sam attempted to hide her embarrassed grin only to look up to see Jack's teasing look as he waggled his eyebrows at her.

"A night to remember," he said before turning his attention forward once more. There was another stretch of tense silence before Daniel broached the subject again. "So, why are you so quiet? Are you feeling any different because you're back on the planet?"

"I must agree with DanielJackson," Teal'c added. "You are most unlike yourself today."

"No, it's not the planet. Jeez, you guys! Can't a man be a little reflective once in a while?"

Daniel glanced over his shoulder at Sam. "Reflective?"

"Yeah, you know, introspective, mulling things over, thinking about... things."

"I know the definition, Jack. I'm just surprised you do." Daniel's smile softened the sarcastic nature of the words.

"I know it might be difficult for you to comprehend, Daniel, but I *do* have deeper thoughts than what's for lunch."

"I'm sorry, Jack, it's just that you've been so..."

"Quiet?"

"Yeah," Daniel sighed. "If something's bugging you..."

"Thanks, but I'd... feel a little silly," Jack confessed.

"Silly? With us?" Daniel asked, clearly hurt Jack would think such a thing.

Jack stopped suddenly, causing the rest of the team to pull up short to avoid running into one another. "Look, I'm not trying to avoid answering your questions or anything. It's just that, well, in the cold light of day, I'm not sure what I think."

"Sir? Did you have another vision?" Sam asked, guessing by his hesitance he was embarrassed by his newly found psychic awareness, which seemed to be a particularly sore spot.

Jack glanced over at her then looked at Teal'c and finally Daniel. "Carter gets it in one," he tried to joke.

Three pairs of eyes gazed at him. "Oh, what the hell," he mumbled. Louder, he said, "Yeah, I had another vision last night, if that's what you want to call it. Two actually."

"What happened?" Sam asked, concerned by his reluctance to share his experiences with them.

"Well, they were more like flashes, actually," Jack said, fiddling with the strap on his gun. "And they hurt like hell. At least the first one did."

"Hurt?" Daniel asked.

"Yeah, I got this stabbing pain right behind my eyes when the first one came. The second one didn't hurt as bad."

"Maybe the pain eventually wears off and in the future they won't hurt at all," Sam theorized.

"I don't plan on having any more!" Jack growled.

"It probably isn't up to you, sir. Can you willingly make the visions come?"

"I don't know, I haven't tried. I don't *want* to try!"

"Okay, Jack, that's neither here nor there right now. What did you see?" Daniel asked.

"A cave defended by Serpent Guards. In the second one I saw people, mostly women, being ushered into the cave. It looked like it was high in the hills somewhere."

"So, we have to head toward the hills," Sam said.

"I thought that's what we were doing," Jack said.

"You've been following the path of the UAV," Sam needlessly informed him. "Were you afraid we wouldn't believe you if you said we had to go directly to the hills?"

Jack looked at the ground. "Kinda, I guess."

"Sir, I don't understand how this is happening to you, but your credibility isn't in question. If you feel the information you received was legitimate, I believe you."

"So do I," Daniel added.

"As do I, O'Neill. Perhaps you should stop resisting these images and embrace them instead. They may be a valuable source of information."

"Teal'c's right, sir. You seem to have an advantage we don't. You shouldn't ignore it."

Jack merely nodded.

*********

*...an advantage we don't.* Sam's words echoed in Jack's head as they switched directions. Maybe they were right. Maybe he *was* going about this all wrong. He knew the strengths and weaknesses of his team and used them to the best advantage. Was he overlooking something by not taking advantage of his new insight? Okay, so he was probably the most skeptical of his team, and yet he *knew* he wasn't making this up.

Would it really be so bad to admit psychic abilities existed and he now had them? He wasn't doubtful when he had the knowledge of the Ancients in his brain-more confused and curious than anything. Now that he thought about it, it had been kind of nice to be on the same level as Sam and Daniel for a while. Then he had passed even their level of comprehension to an area where there was no one who could relate to him and it was incredibly lonely, not only the language barrier, but the understanding as well. He had been able to see abstract concepts so clearly, and it had been incredibly frustrating when they hadn't. Is that what it was like for them? Constantly having to explain to him what they saw without effort? Okay, so that was a bit of an exaggeration. He wasn't *that* far removed from them intellectually. Still, it had been nice to interact with them on that level until he lost the ability to speak English.

Now he was getting a taste of it again. Not exactly the same way, but this was something that set him apart once more, and he didn't like it. He couldn't say he'd actually analyzed why it was he had chosen life in the military, but he knew part of it was the feeling of community, the bonding that came with working among like-minded people. His new abilities served to remind him he was now different from them, and it wasn't sitting well.

It wasn't like his team treated him any differently. He was the one acting differently. It was just a lot to take in. Changing his views on something he'd always considered bunk took a great deal of effort and one hell of a leap of faith. He was like Sam in that regard-he wanted tangible evidence, but then, given the events of the past day and a half, he guessed he had it.

Looking over at Sam, he noticed her watching him then smile self-consciously when he caught her. He couldn't help his own smile. He used to wonder how they always seemed in sync with each other, but maybe it wasn't that odd. Or strange that Daniel and Teal'c knew him so well it was if they were reading his mind. Perhaps on some elemental level they were. SG-1 had a connection that others only hoped to achieve. When one of the other teams functioned as a well-oiled machine, they were often compared to SG-1. It was an honor he didn't take lightly.

Teal'c stopped abruptly, putting his hand on Jack's chest. "They are near," Teal'c said, scanning the area. "There."

"I don't see anything," Daniel said, crouching down with the others.

Jack removed his binoculars from his pack. Sweeping the area, he didn't see anything either, but on a second pass, he noticed a lone guard, partially obscured by rocks.

"No, Teal'c's right. I see one guard with a staff weapon at one o'clock." Jack passed the field glasses to Sam as he looked up at Teal'c. "How did ya know?"

"Due to the symbiote, a Jaffa's sense of smell is far more acute than that of an ordinary human. I detected his scent, and the scent of many others nearby."

"Whoa, guess I better lay off that after shave then," Jack said.

"It would be appreciated," Teal'c said seriously.

Jack cleared his throat and focused once more on their new discovery. "I only saw one. Do ya think there are more?"

"Perimeter guards usually work in pairs. It is likely there is another you did not see."

"From the look of things, we'll have to take out those guards to get closer, sir," Sam said.

Jack nodded. He hated to start shooting when the sound of guns or zats could alert the rest of the Jaffa, but they had little choice. They were still too far away to see what was going on.

Jack was less than thrilled with the available cover. About the only protection they were going to have on their approach was the occasional swell of the ground and tall grass. And they still didn't know how close they were to the other Jaffa. For all he knew, there could be hundreds just over the rise.

"Feel better now?" Daniel asked.

"'Scuse me?" Jack looked at him.

"Now that your vision was right. You led us to the right spot."

"Huh. I guess I did," Jack said, turning his attention to the binoculars once more.

"Jack, I think the next time you get a vision you shouldn't try to just dismiss it. It could be a valuable source of information."

"Daniel's right, sir. Especially since we probably won't be able to get into this cave you saw. Anything you come up with could help."

"Well, providing I actually *have* another vision, I'll keep that in mind. Uh, no pun intended," he said, barely squelching a grin.

*********

They'd made it across the open field without being detected. *So far, so good,* Jack thought. He motioned the others closer as he lay down his plans for getting past the guards.

"Carter, you and Daniel head to the right. Teal'c and I will head left." He could see the second guard now, and knew they wouldn't make it past either of them. "Take out your guy with a zat. It'll be quieter."

"Two shots, sir?" Sam asked.

Jack hated killing for no reason, but these two were a threat to their mission-not only their current assignment, but to any future missions as well. "Two, Major," he said, not wanting to meet Sam's eyes.

She knew the necessity as well as he, but sometimes there was a flicker of remorse in her gaze before she took action. "After the guards are taken care of?" Sam asked.

"We'll rendezvous on the backside of that ridge," Jack said, pointing to an outcropping of rocks. "I think the cave is on the other side of that."

Sam nodded and waited for O'Neill's signal to move forward.

"All set, kids?" At Sam and Daniel's cue, he whispered, "Go!"

Creeping behind Teal'c, Jack let him take the lead. They'd made it to a knoll where Jack stopped for a moment to ready his zat gun and briefly glanced over to note Sam and Daniel's progress. They too had found a refuge for a moment. Sam looked over her shoulder at Jack, giving him a sign that everything was okay. Jack nodded when he felt a pain behind his eyes before he saw a flash of light. He saw Daniel standing up, presumably to draw the Serpent Guard's attention, only to be blown several feet from where he'd been standing by the force of a staff weapon blast.

The light and pain faded as Jack rose to his feet. He had to stop Daniel before he stood, making himself a prime target. Running in what felt like slow motion, Jack raced across the field, yelling at Daniel to stay down as he flew through the air, tackling the man who was still lying on the ground.

Daniel coughed, trying to catch the breath Jack had literally knocked out of him.

"Jack?" he wheezed. "What the hell was that all about?"

"You were shot! I saw you take a hit from a staff weapon!"

"We aren't even within range yet!" Daniel said indignantly, struggling to get out from under O'Neill. "If that little display didn't get their attention, I don't know what will!"

Jack rolled onto his back, rubbing a hand across his face. *Well this is embarrassing,* he thought. Not only did he blow their cover, but Daniel and Sam were looking at him as if he'd completely lost it.

The image had been so strong. It felt like the visions he'd had. It seemed so real! The knot that formed in his stomach at the sight of Daniel's death was still there, adrenaline coursing through his body.

"Sir?" Sam asked, touching his arm. "Are you all right?"

Jack gave a mirthless snort. "Yeah, I'm fine. Look's like everyone is."

Daniel sat up a bit, turning to look at Jack. "What did you think you saw?"

"I had another vision," Jack told him. "I saw you stand up and the Jaffa you guys were targeting shot you with his staff weapon. You were dead before you hit the ground."

Daniel swallowed. "I don't know what to say. Thanks, I guess."

"Thanks, you guess?"

"Well, it was nice of you try to save me, but I'm not in any danger, at least not any more than the rest of you," Daniel said, glancing over at Sam.

"But I *saw* it," Jack argued. "Same as any of the other things I saw. This was real!"

"Well, considering even with your aerial act we still haven't been detected, is there a possibility you could have been... wrong?"

"Daniel, it happened here!" Jack rolled onto his stomach, looking around the hillock providing their cover. Seeing the Jaffa walking away from their position confused him. If anything from his vision were true, wouldn't the guard be heading toward them instead of the opposite direction?

"Jaffa! Kree!" yelled Teal'c startling the others as he came to his feet, and fired his staff weapon, killing one guard. The other was brought down seconds later.

"Thanks," said Jack as Teal'c approached from the other side of the field.

Teal'c inclined his head, bowing slightly. "What transpired, O'Neill?"

"I, uh, had another vision. I thought Daniel was gonna get killed," replied Jack sheepishly.

"DanielJackson did not appear to be in immediate danger," observed the Jaffa, shifting his gaze from O'Neill to Daniel.

"Oops?" Jack said, shrugging his shoulders.

"Oops? That's your explanation?" Daniel asked.

"I already told ya, I saw you getting shot! Weren't you and Carter the ones who told me not to ignore any other visions I had? Well, I didn't!"

Sam and Daniel exchanged glances. "We did, sir. Maybe this prevents something from happening later on?" she offered.

"Thanks for trying, Major. Can we just forget this happened? Okay? We've got a mission to complete." Despite agreeing with him, Jack knew this wasn't going to be the end of it. At the very least he'd be subjected to another *lovely* round of exams in the infirmary. Could this day get any worse?

*********

Jack got his answer when they moved into position to observe the cave he'd seen in his vision. After his little fiasco with Daniel, he was wondering if his earlier premonitions weren't figments of his imagination as well. His relief to see the cave before them was short lived as the clouds that had been threatening rain let loose. The rain fell with such a force, it almost pushed them to the ground, causing the grass and rocks to become slick almost immediately.

"Oh, now *this* is the cherry on the sundae," Jack complained as he slogged up the slight rise to their originally designated rendezvous point. The rain had come so fast there wasn't time to retrieve rain gear before the team was soaked.

Sam pushed her wet hair out of her eyes. "Looks like they've already moved everyone inside, sir."

"Guess that means we're gonna have to move in a little closer," Jack stated with a sigh. He wasn't thrilled by the prospect. It was one thing for the four of them to take out two guards. It was quite another to infiltrate their stronghold without getting caught. Of course, he could always have a flash of insight and get them all killed. The fact he could have been so wrong about Daniel's supposed death upset him. How was he supposed to trust his judgment now? Seeing the faces of his team turned to him, waiting for instruction only made him feel worse. They relied on him to make the right call. What if he blew this one as well?

*This is absurd,* he chastised himself. Granted he'd made mistakes before-bad calls he should have recognized for what they were. This was no different. *Get over it, O'Neill,* he told himself. *Everyone's fine and they're waiting for you.*

"Okay, slight change in plans," he told them. "Carter and Daniel, Teal'c and I will hold back, covering you until you're inside. Once there, you'll return the favor, got it?" The members of his team nodded, readying weapons.

"Move out!"

Charging over the hill, Jack and Teal'c took cover behind an outcropping of rocks. Once in place, he motioned Sam and Daniel forward. They ran in a zigzag pattern to the mouth of the cave, managing to remain undetected. Jack exhaled a sigh of relief as he motioned to Teal'c's, indicating they would go on three.

Sam could sense the colonel and Teal'c moving behind her, but she kept her focus on the mouth of the cave, watching out for more Jaffa. "Daniel, keep an eye out for trouble," she said in a low voice.

Daniel nodded solemnly, his attention on the other members of the team. His eyes followed their progress, scanning the hillside around them for unfriendlies. "Coast looks clear," he whispered when they arrived.

"Okay, campers. Here's the drill," Jack whispered. "Carter and I will take point. Daniel, Teal'c, you guys bring up the six. We're not going to get too close. All we want to do is assess the situation. Daniel, I know you're more likely to understand what they're saying than the rest of us. Keep your ears open. But you are not to chat up anyone. Let's move."

The team moved out, slowly, carefully and quietly picking their way through the rocky terrain. The corridor widened slightly and branched off in two directions up ahead.

Teal'c grabbed Daniel and pushed him behind a rock outcropping as he heard the loud clanking of a Jaffa's armor coming towards them. "O'Neill, we are not alone," he said in a low voice.

O'Neill and Carter took cover a little farther down the corridor, hiding in a small alcove as a Jaffa rounded the corner, half dragging, half prodding an obviously pregnant woman past their hiding place.

"Kree!" he called as he shoved her roughly deeper into the cave.

Jack balled his fists as he heard the woman's whimpers of pain, unable to do anything to help her as she struggled against the Jaffa's hold on her hair. She cried out, and even though he didn't recognize the language, Jack certainly understood its intent.

"Colonel," Sam whispered to him once the Jaffa and woman were past them. "Didn't you say in your vision you saw mostly women? Judging from the look of things they're here for breeding stock."

"I had the same thought," he said. "Ahzka said the telepathic effects were cumulative. If a person was born here, he said they're ability to fully Share usually developed by the time they were ten. I'm guessing for visitors it takes longer than that."

"So if they breed hosts, raising them here, it would accelerate the process. Ten years as opposed to a lifetime," Sam said, thinking out loud.

"That's my guess."

"But time is practically relative to a Goa'uld. Why doesn't Apophis just live on the planet? Have a base here or something?"

"Maybe he doesn't want to attract attention. He's always moving around. If he stayed here long enough to become enlightened, the other System Lords would probably start moving in on his territory," Jack said.

"How do you suppose he found out about Yolaris?" Sam asked, shifting in their close quarters.

"Heard it through the grapevine?"

Sam smiled at his comment. "What if Apophis is the Goa'uld who destroyed the Yolarans in the first place?"

"That would explain how he knew about their telepathic abilities," Jack said. "And he must have found out it was something to do with the planet, and not the people themselves. Otherwise I don't think he would have killed them all. According to Ahzka, the Goa'uld who came here didn't care that he destroyed everyone. It was like he knew he didn't need them for hosts, that he could transplant people from somewhere else. People a little easier to control."

"Sounds like Apophis' MO," Sam agreed.

Jack peeked out of the alcove they'd been hiding in. "Looks like the coast is clear. We should try to meet back up with Daniel and Teal'c."

*********

Daniel moved along the cave wall, trying to remain in the shadows. Teal'c was slightly ahead of him, moving slowly. Once past the entrance, the cave widened into a large central room with many fires and groups of people clustered around them. There were a few cordoned off areas, offering privacy to those whose fires were next to the walls of the cave. *Must be the upper crust,* Daniel thought to himself. Even in this type of situation there was still a pecking order, a hierarchy to be considered. He found himself trying to figure out the basis for the division between the haves and have nots. Was it age? Length of captivity? He was so lost in thought he didn't notice Teal'c had moved on.

"DanielJackson, we must get closer," he whispered.

The archeologist nodded, moving forward. A rock from a misplaced step clattered loudly to the ground, causing the Jaffa at the edge of the chamber to look in the direction of the sound. Teal'c and Daniel froze, not daring to breathe until the guards turned their attention back to the prisoners.

Daniel closed his eyes, a slow breath escaping his lips as the threat of discovery passed. Motioning for Teal'c to continue, he vowed to keep his attention on the task of gathering information.

Most of the conversation was related to chores-a leader of sorts around each fire issuing commands, which the others followed. Most of the tasks were routine; maintaining fires, fetching water, cooking. Daniel noted there was very little conversation, which wasn't work related. Each group huddled around a fire seemed to act almost like a pseudo family-the males of the group trying to protect the females when the Jaffa ventured too close.

One thing Daniel found strange was the lack of children. He'd seen several pregnant women, but no offspring. A commotion on one side of the chamber caught Daniel's attention. A Jaffa began to pull a young woman toward the sectioned off area, pushing her behind the ratty curtain. Her wails of protest soon turned into sobs of pain and terror, leaving little doubt in Daniel's mind what the purpose of the cubicles was.

*I guess it's one of the perks of being a Jaffa here,* Daniel thought bitterly. He found his hands clenching into fists, furious at his inability to stop the horror happening just a few feet from him. He was about to move when he felt a hand on his shoulder, holding him back.

Jack stood behind him, his expression angry. "Easy, Danny," Jack whispered. "You might save her, but if we're caught what good will it do? We'll come back with enough manpower to end this," he whispered.

"You're right," Daniel spoke in an equally low tone. "It's just all I can see is Sha're, how she was taken against her will, made to serve those..."

"I know," Jack said, squeezing Daniel's shoulder. Changing the subject he said, "Other than a place for Jaffa to get their kicks, do you see anything that might indicate why these people are being held here?"

"Well, I haven't seen any evidence of normal slave activities," he said. "They're not using this cave for mining, or for anything else Apophis usually wants. My guess is they're here for breeding. Making more slaves."

"That's kinda what Carter and I were thinking, but we can't discuss it here. Teal'c? Seen enough?" Jack whispered, removing his wet cap, and running a hand through his damp hair.

"I believe I have," he replied stonily.

Sam's foot slipped as she turned to follow the others, causing a shower of stones to fall noisily to the cave floor.

"Shit!" Jack hissed as they froze.

Daniel knew it was only a matter of seconds before the Jaffa discovered them. Looking at the loose rocks where his hand rested, he noticed they were similar to the type of rock Jack had found at the ruins. Picking one up, he realized it had the same consistency as well. He threw the palm-sized rock as hard as he could against the opposite wall of the cave. There was no sound when it hit the other side as Daniel had hoped there would be, but it ricocheted and hit one of the Jaffa in the back.

The startled guard began to argue with the Jaffa behind him, blaming him for distracting him from his task. The oblivious Jaffa vigorously defended his innocence, angering his comrade, who continued to gesture wildly and spout accusations.

The whole scene reminded Daniel of a Three Stooges routine. He was so engrossed by the outcome of his efforts that he almost missed Jack tugging on his leg.

"Let's go!" he whispered, indicating the way they had come in with a nod of his head.

Once outside the cave, Jack planted his palm on Daniel's head, rubbing his wet hair like he was a kid. "Space Monkey! *Now* I know why I put up with all your rambling! "Let's get outta here!"

*********

As soon as the wormhole engaged, General Hammond was surprised to see a small wave of water come through the Stargate along with the returning members of SG-1. "Lock it up, General," Jack called out casually as he removed his baseball cap. "It might stop any more water from coming through. Oh, and you might want to get some mops down here before something gets shorted out."

Hammond just shook his head. If anyone could return through the 'gate with a flood, it would be SG-1. Leaning closer to the microphone, he said, "Welcome back, SG-1. A little damp on the planet?"

"You could say that," Jack said with a grin as he wrung the water out of his cap.

"While I'm sure you have some interesting stories to tell, I think it'll wait until you've had a chance for a warm shower and some dry clothes. I take it no one was hurt this time?"

Jack's grin grew wider. "No, sir. No one melted either."

Hammond allowed himself a small smile. "Very well, we'll debrief after Dr. Fraiser's had a chance to check you out. Dismissed."

The general watched SG-1 plod across the 'gate room, pulling on their wet clothes. He observed Carter asking O'Neill something which prompted Jack to turn around and reply harshly enough to her to stop the major in her tracks. Whatever it was, O'Neill didn't look happy about it.

*********

Sam was still smarting from Jack's reprimand as they headed towards the showers. All she had done was suggest that he should have mentioned his vision when the general had asked whether anyone had been hurt. Technically, no one had been injured, but the colonel's behavior had certainly been outside his norm, and Sam thought it worth mentioning. Had it been anyone else on the team, he would have reported it to Hammond.

Jack hadn't exactly threatened her, but there was no doubt in her mind the next time she brought it up, he would order her to remain silent. She could see how the incident could be embarrassing, especially for a man like Jack, whose credibility meant everything to him. He'd had the shadow of doubt placed on him before and it was almost his undoing. Frankly, Sam didn't know how he had managed to make it through the whole Maybourne/Makepeace sting when General Hammond was the only one who knew Jack's conduct was an act. It destroyed trust. And Jack, like any leader, needed his team to trust him.

Throughout Jack's exam, Sam tried to think of a way to let Janet know what had happened on the planet, maybe get her to run a few extra tests. But the opportunity never arose. When the doctor asked him if he'd felt any ill effects being back on the planet, Sam felt Jack's eyes burning into her, warning her to keep silent.

"Okay," Janet said, snapping off her latex gloves. "Other than being a little water logged, you all seem fine. You're cleared for your briefing."

Jack gave Sam one last look before ushering her out the door ahead of him. There was no way he was going to give her the chance to mention anything to Janet.

*********

Jack took his usual seat in the briefing room, immediately picking up a pen and twirling it around his fingers. He was pretty sure Carter had gotten the message about telling the general of his little episode on the planet, but that didn't mean Daniel or Teal'c wouldn't bring it up. He was going to mention something to them in the locker room, but thought better of it. The more attention he drew to the situation, the more they'd be inclined to say something. He couldn't order them to remain quiet, but he could Carter. Fortunately, he and Sam had perfected silent communication to an art, and after his initial statement, just one look from him conveyed his intent. When he noted the frown she hadn't lost since the 'gate room, Jack knew she'd gotten the message loud and clear. He didn't need to be psychic to see the battle she was fighting.

*Psychic,* he laughed to himself. That's how this whole business got started. It *could* be a tactical advantage to have that kind of foresight, but only if he could rely on the information. Today's events had proven there was no way to tell the real visions from the fake. Maybe he *was* going nuts. Everything about seeing Daniel shot seemed so real. He couldn't have held himself in check, even if he'd wanted to.

Jack's thoughts were interrupted by the arrival of the general. He started to get to his feet, but Hammond waved him down.

"At ease, people. I take it no one suffered any ill effects from the return to the planet?"

Jack looked purposely at Sam as he replied, "No, sir, we've all gotten the green light from the Doc."

"Good. Now, besides the sudden rain you found yourselves in, what can you tell me?"

Jack recounted their journey to the cave, carefully leaving out any reference to his rescue of Daniel, earning him stares from all three members of his team. He quickly moved on to detail what had happened in the cave.

"From what we could see, there wasn't any mining going on. It looked like the people were there simply as breeding stock, although they didn't treat their 'cattle' very well," Jack stated disgustedly. "They were living in the most primitive conditions, women dragged off and raped. Even the pregnant women were treated roughly. And whatever offspring they might have produced, had been removed. There were no children or infants that we saw." He looked over at Daniel and Teal'c for confirmation.

"That's right, General," Daniel said. "My guess is the children are removed at birth, or maybe the mothers are allowed to accompany the children until they're weaned."

"Are you sure the children aren't just killed?" Hammond asked.

Jack could see the idea didn't sit well with the general, but it was a legitimate question. Just because there were pregnant women didn't mean the children were allowed to live.

"Well, sir, Carter and I thought perhaps it's the children the Goa'uld are really after."

"From what Colonel O'Neill has told us, the psychic abilities manifest themselves in those born on the planet faster than in those who come to the planet," Sam said.

"And what takes years for most visitors only took you about an hour, Colonel?" Hammond asked.

"I've explained that, sir. It was because I was unconscious, or at least that's what Ahzka said," Jack replied, feeling his face turning red. He knew how ridiculous it still sounded even with Dr. Fraiser's MRIs to back him up.

"So why don't they just knock each other out, or use hypnosis to achieve a more open mind?" Daniel asked.

"Maybe they haven't tried," Sam said. "After all, we wouldn't have had any clue something was different on P9X-445 if the Colonel hadn't been unconscious. Maybe they think the only way to increase their psychic ability is to wait for nature to take its course."

"Or speed it up by breeding hosts," Jack added.

"I concur, O'Neill. I believe that is the reason for breeding on this planet," Teal'c said. "I have given the matter a great deal of thought. I do not believe it is possible for a Jaffa or a Goa'uld to become psychic merely by staying on the planet."

Jack looked at the people seated around the table before turning his gaze to Teal'c. "Why not?"

"I believe their symbiotes prevent them from being affected."

"How do you know this?" Sam asked. "I mean none of the rest of us have noticed any difference after having visited the planet, so how do you know your being a Jaffa has prevented you from experiencing any increased awareness?"

"I have no evidence on which to base my claim," Teal'c answered calmly. "Only that I can tell when my symbiote has been battling something. Whether it is an illness or something else. My need for Kel No Reem has increased significantly both times we have visited the planet."

"If they can't become psychic, why would the Goa'uld be breeding people on Yolaris? If they just wanted hosts, they could do it anywhere," Daniel said. "With a lot better weather conditions."

"I cannot answer that, DanielJackson."

"Teal'c, you said your symbiote rejects whatever it is about the planet that makes people psychic. What if a Goa'uld were to take over a person who's already psychic?" Sam asked.

Teal'c's eyes moved rapidly, the only outward sign he was thinking about what Sam had proposed. "I believe in that case, the symbiote would retain the abilities of the host."

"Then that must be what they're doing, sir," Sam said, looking at the general. "Breeding psychic hosts because no matter how long the Goa'uld remain on the planet, they'll never have the abilities unless they transfer bodies."

"Can you imagine what an army of pre-cognitive Jaffa could do?" Daniel asked. "There'd be no way to stop them. The element of surprise would be non-existent. They'd know what we were planning almost before we did."

Jack felt a pain behind his eyes. Recognizing the signs, he braced himself for the vision he knew was coming. He heard rather than saw Ahzka this time, but he still saw plenty. It wasn't the Goa'uld that had wiped out the population of Yolaris. It was the Yolarans themselves. When it was apparent they were losing the battle against the Goa'uld, the population of Yolaris took to slaughtering each other. Not out of hatred or panic, but out of mercy. They couldn't conceive living as one of the monsters that had invaded their world, and they couldn't allow them to use what powers Yolaris had given them to subjugate other people.

He watched in horror as parents killed their own children, telling them as well as Sharing with them how much they loved them. How they regretted ending their young lives in such a brutal fashion.

"Now you see why you have to be our memory, O'Neill. Our sacrifice should not be in vain." Ahzka said gravely.

Jack couldn't help the tears that spilled from his eyes. He tried to blame it on the physical pain of the vision, but he knew it was more from the images he'd seen. He didn't realize he was gasping for breath until he felt Sam's hand on his.

"Sir? Colonel, are you okay?"

"Uh, fine, Carter," Jack croaked, his voice rough as he tried to get his emotions under control. He could've handled things if he hadn't seen parents murdering their own children. The sight had just been too much for him. He buried his head in his hands, as if he could shut out the carnage Ahzka had shown him by covering his eyes.

"Jack?" This time it was Daniel's concerned voice that broke through the haze of bloody images.

"Not now, Daniel! I feel like my mind's being pulled in two different directions," Jack said, still cradling his aching head.

"Colonel, perhaps you should go to the infirmary and..."

"I'm fine, General. I'll be fine. I just need a minute."

"Sir! That's it!" Sam cried.

"What's it?" Jack asked, looking at Sam between his splayed fingers.

"I think I've figured out what it is about P9X-445 that causes this effect." Before Jack could ask her what the hell she was talking about, Sam was up and moving to the computer in the corner of the briefing room.

Sam typed furiously for several moments as the rest of her team gathered around her. "That's it!"

"What's it?" Jack asked again, noticing she'd brought up an image of Yolaris and the two stars that served as the planet's suns.

"I don't see anything," Daniel said, causing Jack to give an inward sigh of relief. Good. He wasn't the only one missing the point of this demonstration.

"Okay, this is a static model," Sam said. "But watch when I put it into motion." Four heads glanced over her shoulder, watching the orbit of the planet and the stars.

"Uh, Sam," Daniel said, "I still don't see anything out of the ordinary."

"Well, it's not out of the ordinary for P9X-445, I suppose," she answered.

"Carter! Will ya get to the point!"

"It has to do with gravitational pulls on the planet." Sam stopped for a moment, but when she got no responses, she continued. "On Earth, the tides are affected daily by the gravitational pull of the sun and the moon. It also has an effect on our weather."

"Yeah, so?" Jack asked.

"Well, imagine the strength two suns would have on a planet. Granted Yolaris is a significant distance from its suns, but still close enough for the weather to be extremely changeable, consequently, the sudden storms."

"So, what does that have to do with the Yolarans' psychic abilities?" Daniel asked.

"Humans are made up mostly of water, and as such are subject to the same pulls as the tides."

"Ya mean like how people say they can feel a full moon?" Jack asked. "I hate to disappoint you, Carter, but since I've been to Yolaris, I haven't been growing any hair on the back of my hands."

Sam tried to suppress her smile as she continued. "There is evidence to support the claim people suffer from the effects of the full moon, sir."

"Hence the term lunacy," Daniel added. Jack just glared at him. Was he actually buying this?

"So, what you're saying is instead of turning into a werewolf, I became psychic?"

"That's the gist of it, sir. The gravitational stresses of the two suns must be what's stimulating the area of the brain we normally reach only when in a state of deep sleep..."

"Or unconsciousness," Jack finished for her.

"Yes, sir. At least that's my theory. Of course, I could be completely wrong, but I don't think so. This makes the most sense."

"Good work, Major," General Hammond said, placing his hand on her shoulder.

"Thank you, sir," she said, casting her gaze to the floor.

Jack just shook his head. Where the hell did she come up with this stuff? All he said was he felt his mind being pulled in two different directions, and from that she came up with this nearly impossible theory? *Oh, yeah. Way smarter than you, O'Neill.*

Sam took her seat at the table again as General Hammond continued with the debriefing. She couldn't believe she hadn't thought of the gravitational stresses before, especially when she knew it was the main factor in Yolaris' unpredictable weather. Maybe it was too close for her to see.

She was still struggling with whether or not to tell Hammond about Jack's vision on the planet. Part of her wanted to ignore it, since no one had been hurt and their mission wasn't blown. But another part of her wondered about the next time. What if there was something else wrong with him? Something Janet might pick up if Jack had another MRI or other test? She looked up at her CO, about to say something when Jack quickly interrupted her.

"General? We are going to help those people, aren't we? I mean we can't just leave them there for Apophis to use as baby factories."

"I was just getting to that, Colonel," Hammond said, missing the warning glance Jack gave Sam.

"General Hammond? I realize it's probably not my place, but there was an incident on the planet Jack hasn't mentioned," Daniel said, interrupting again.

A part of Sam relaxed. Thank God Daniel was the one to bring it up. She hadn't wanted to go against the wishes of her superior.

"Daniel..." Jack warned, giving Daniel a look that should have sent him cowering.

But Daniel didn't back down. He didn't want to embarrass Jack, but he was concerned. If it meant pissing him off to make sure he was all right, then that's the way it was going to be.

"Colonel O'Neill? Would you care to enlighten us? Or should I ask Dr. Jackson to explain?"

Jack stalled for a moment, his movements becoming increasingly fidgety. "What *Dr. Jackson* is referring to, sir, is the fact I had another vision on the planet."

General Hammond waited for him to continue.

"One that wasn't entirely accurate," Jack added.

"Well?" Hammond asked.

"Oh, for cryin' out loud! I saw him get shot with a staff weapon and I ran to push him out of the way! The only trouble was, there was no Jaffa, no staff weapon. At least at that point. By racing to save him, I nearly gave away our position. If the Jaffa hadn't been out of range, they would have killed us all." Jack's last sentence was barely audible, causing the general to lean forward to hear the end.

"Sir, I'm sure Colonel O'Neill felt he was acting on what he thought was reliable information. He wouldn't have endangered the mission if he hadn't believed Daniel was shot."

"Major, while I appreciate your willingness to back up your commanding officer, the fact remains he showed poor judgment in trying to rescue a man who wasn't in any immediate danger."

"With all due respect, sir, this is the first time his intuition has been wrong. Everything else he's seen was correct, right down to the location of the cave."

"Regardless of their accuracy, these visions, or whatever you want to call them, are beginning to interfere with his decision making abilities. How is he going to know which are foresight and which are hallucinations? I'm sorry, Jack, but I have no choice but to ground you until we can find a way to stop you from having these visions."

"General! You can't!" Jack cried. "What if they don't stop? Are ya gonna tie me to a desk permanently?"

"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it," Hammond said, looking none too happy with his decision. "You will be included in the planning for the rescue. I need your input on this, son." Hammond placed a reassuring hand on Jack's shoulder.

The colonel attempted to smile, but it came out as more of a grimace. He swallowed, looking as if he was trying to maintain his composure. "Who'll be leading the mission, sir?"

Hammond looked in Sam's direction. "Major Carter will be leading the rescue teams."

Sam's head snapped up at the news. "Me, sir? I'm honored you have that kind of faith in me, but I really think Colonel O'Neill..."

"Are you telling me you're not up to the task, Major?" Hammond asked her harshly.

"No, sir! It's just that..."

"Fine. We'll reconvene at 0800 tomorrow to discuss strategies."

Sam looked across the table at a dejected Jack O'Neill who tried to smile at her. "You'll be fine, Major. You always said you wanted more command experience. Here's your chance." Before she had an opportunity to respond, Jack was out of his chair and halfway across the room.

"Colonel, I want you to see Dr. Fraiser again. Perhaps she can come up with some way to stop these visions," Hammond ordered.

"Yes, sir," Jack said, about to exit the room, but not before turning and giving Daniel a look that could have melted the 'gate's iris.

*********

Jack lay with his head in the MRI scanner. He never thought it would get to be part of his daily routine to have a brain scan! Too bad he couldn't bring a book or something. Lying still on the table left Jack's mind unchallenged, and he didn't like the direction his thoughts were taking.

He should have said something to Daniel. Why the hell didn't he warn him the same as he had Sam? Jack thought bringing the subject up would only reinforce how nervous he was about the possibility of Hammond pulling him off the team. Well, it happened anyway, regardless of the damage control he'd instituted by warning Carter to keep silent.

It really wasn't Daniel's fault, Jack knew, but he needed someone to blame for his current stretch of downtime. God, he felt so frustrated! He finally got back in the field and then this had to happen. Why him? He was going stir crazy, and didn't know if he could hold still long enough for the damn machine to get it's scan. The minute Fraiser released him he was out of there. Away from the mountain, away from the sympathetic stares of his teammates and away from anything having to do with Yolaris.

"Not much longer, Colonel," Janet assured him.

He never could relax when he was getting one of these damn scans, so it wasn't just the anger he felt at being cut from SG-1 making him tense. One good thing had come of it, though. Sam was going to be in charge of the mission, and get some more command experience. She really should have her own team, he thought, but the idea that they would no longer work together felt like a stab in his gut. While it would take her out of his direct chain of command, he wondered if it would be a blessing or a curse. Sure, they could see each other, date even, but at what cost? Despite the fact their relationship could move to a different level, he would be loosing a fine 2IC. One he worked so well with it was almost as if she read his mind. Jack smiled at that. *Now* who was the psychic?

"All set, Colonel," Janet said, pulling him out of the machine.

"So, are we done now, Doc? I gotta get out of this place." Jack could see she was about to protest when he held up a hand, stopping her. "Come on, Doc! This has probably been one of the worst days of my recent life. I need to get outta here. I need to go *home!*"

Janet's features softened at Jack's plea. "All right, but if you have..."

"I know the drill. Besides, I have to be back here tomorrow as a *consultant.* I'm not going anywhere."

Janet gave him a sympathetic smile, patting his arm. "Try and get some rest, okay?"

"Sure," he said hopping down from the exam table. *A few beers should help on that score,* he thought.

*********

Jack was just settling into a well-worn chair with a second beer, when he heard a knock on his door.

"Christ," he mumbled, getting to his feet. *Is it too much to ask to have a little privacy for one night?* he thought to himself. It had to be one of his team mates, as no one else ever showed up on his doorstep. Most likely it was Daniel, here to apologize for getting him kicked off the rescue mission.

Opening the door, his mouth fell open. "Carter!" he exclaimed, surprised she was the one who had come.

"Uh, hi, sir. I know it's late, and I'm sorry I didn't call..."

"It's okay," he said, his hand on the door, blocking her entrance into his house.

Sam waited a moment then asked, "Do you think I could come in?"

"Huh? Oh, sure," Jack said, stepping back, allowing her into the foyer. He thought about offering to take her coat, but decided it would look like he was inviting her to stay, and he wasn't. He wanted to drink a few beers, get a slight buzz, then go to bed, hoping to erase the day from his memory.

"Have a seat," he said motioning to the couch. Picking up the television remote, he turned down the sound of the hockey game.

"Who's playing?" Sam asked conversationally.

"Minnesota Wild and the Blackhawks," he said, taking his seat again and picking up his beer. "But I don't think you came over here to watch the game."

"No, sir, I didn't," she said. Jack noticed her eyeing his beer. He supposed he should be polite and offer her one, even if it meant she'd probably end up staying longer. What was the big deal, anyway? He enjoyed her company. Why was he in such a hurry for her to leave? Probably because he wasn't going to like what she was here to say, especially if her body language was anything to go by. Sam sat on the edge of his sofa, back ramrod straight as if she were at attention, merely folded in half.

"Would you like a beer?" he asked, finally deciding he should show her some courtesy. Perhaps she'd relax a bit and get to the point.

He started to rise, but she waved him down. "I can get it myself, sir, if you don't mind."

"Help yourself," he said, gesturing in the general vicinity of the kitchen. "Get me another one?"

Sam eyed the one bottle on his coffee table, and the one in his hand, but made no comment. By the time she'd returned, Jack had added his second empty to the first.

"So, why are you here, Carter?"

Sam sat back down, taking a small sip of her beer, then twirled the bottle's neck between her palms. "I'm here to ask a favor."

"A favor?"

"Yeah, I was hoping you wouldn't be too hard on Daniel for what he told Hammond at the briefing."

Jack's hand tightened involuntarily around the new bottle. "He didn't have to mention it to Hammond."

"I think he did, sir. And if he hadn't, I would have."

Sam's admission caught him off guard. She didn't rat on him when he stole alien technology, but a little thing like acting on a misguided instinct had her running to the general?

"I thought you understood my instructions, Major," Jack said, purposely using her rank. "No one got hurt. It wasn't necessary for him to know."

"I disagree, sir." Sam shifted uncomfortably as he glared at her. "If it had been one of us, you wouldn't have let it slide. You would have told the general."

Well, she had him there. If the shoe was on the other foot, he would have mentioned the incident. *She's worried about you, Jack. And she's scared as hell she's going to mess up this mission. Cut her some slack.*

"I'm not really mad at Daniel," he said with a sigh. "More at myself, I guess. He's just an easy target."

Sam slid a little closer to the edge of the sofa. "Sir, I really don't know how you can blame yourself. It's not like you have control over these visions." Jack made a face and she added, "Do you? Can you make them come at will?"

"No, but something should feel off about them if they're not right, don't ya think? That's the part that's driving me nuts! How am I supposed to be able to decide what's a true vision and what's not? Which ones do I act on?"

"Maybe none of them," Sam said.

"Excuse me? Weren't you all telling me to go with what I saw? Well, I did, and look what happened!"

"Maybe we were wrong, sir. Maybe if you tried to over look, or ignore..."

"Could *you* ignore the sight of Danny getting shot by a staff blast?" Jack asked bitterly.

Sam looked down at her hands. "No, sir, I guess I couldn't."

"Sam? Why are you really here?" Before she could restate her position as Daniel's defense, Jack cut her off. "Look, I know what you said, but that's not the real reason you came."

Sam took another swallow of her beer, gazing around the room as if somewhere on the walls there might be an excuse she could use. After a lengthy pause, she said, "I don't think I should be the one to lead this mission, Colonel. Aside from your obvious leadership experience, there are things you know about the planet I can only guess at.

"Sam," Jack said, taking the beer from her and holding her hands between his palms. "You'll do fine. I know it's a big responsibility, but you're up to the task. Hammond's right. I'm not the best choice for this mission. He made the right call."

"I just wish you were going to be there to back me up," Sam whispered.

Jack squeezed her hands and smiled. "Yeah. Me too." He cleared his throat, self-consciously releasing her warm hands.

Sam blushed as his fingers slid away from hers. "Well, sir, we've got a mission to plan tomorrow and it's getting late..."

"Look, I'm sorry for being such a jerk when you first came over. You really don't have to leave."

Sam stood, staring for a long moment into his eyes. "Yeah, I think I do," she said, smiling shyly. "Again, I'm sorry if I disturbed you. Thanks for the pep talk."

"No sweat," Jack said, walking her to the door. "Oh, by the way, did you have trouble getting your car started on the way over here?"

Sam turned to face him, mouth agape. "How did you...? Never mind," she said, shaking her head. "I know how you know."

"It's your battery," Jack said, thrusting his hands in his pants pockets, giving her a sheepish look as he shrugged his shoulders. "But, I'm not exactly batting a thousand these days, so don't take my word for it."

"Oh! I almost forgot! Janet sent this along for you." Sam fished inside her coat pocket, pulling out a piece of paper. "It's a copy of your latest MRI."

Jack looked at the noticeably larger band of yellow on the image. "Guess I can look forward to a few more voices in my head," he muttered, smiling ruefully. "I wonder how many of these I'll be able to believe."

Sam gave him an affectionate smile. "I wish I had an answer for you, sir."

"Me too, Carter. Me too."

*********

Jack let the copy of his MRI slide from his fingers onto the coffee table. Maybe it was just as well he wasn't going with the team tomorrow. He wasn't sure how he felt about the further increase in his mental abilities. Physically he felt the same, but he couldn't deny the flashes he saw were becoming more frequent, especially the images of the Yolarans killing one another.

As difficult as it was to see the visions of Yolaris, Jack could understand why they'd taken the action they had. If it were a choice between death and becoming a host, he'd choose death too. Even the short time he'd been host to Hathor's buddy, it had been one of the most horrific things he'd lived through. If that Tok'ra hadn't gotten him back in the deep-freeze... He didn't even want to consider the possibilities.

Jack looked down at his collection of empties, and contemplated another beer. He'd missed most of the hockey game, and didn't feel like watching anything else. Sighing, he cleaned up his mess, settling for finishing off the remains of Sam's beer. Now that he was alone, he felt kind of bad he'd been so rude to her. Having someone else in the room distracted him from his own thoughts and the flashes of things he shouldn't know about. And if he was perfectly honest, she was his first choice for a distraction.

Climbing the stairs to his bedroom, Jack suddenly had a flash of Sam standing on the same staircase, one or two steps above him with her hand extended and a most non-platonic grin on her face.

Jack laughed and rubbed his forehead, calling out to no one. "Oh, yeah! Right! Like I'm going to believe *that* one!" Still, of all the visions he'd had, he wouldn't mind seeing this one come true.

*********

Sitting in the briefing room, Jack tried to keep his attention focused on the planning session. Sam was doing a good job of organization, only glancing at him occasionally for support or approval. General Hammond had left things pretty much in Sam's hands with the odd comment thrown in for good measure.

There was no reason for him to remain silent, other than he was afraid if he opened his mouth, he'd say something he'd regret. Jack's thoughts were so crowded with scenes from Yolaris, visions of the cave where the people were being held, he couldn't be sure what was genuine. For all he knew, any warnings he could give would be the exact opposite of what his team and the other SG units would encounter. He didn't realize he was being addressed until Hammond added his voice to Sam's questioning, "Sir?"

"Jack?"

Jack swallowed hard, placing his pen down on the legal pad before him. Looking up, he noticed he was alone in the room with Carter and the general. "Uh, sir?"

"I asked if there was anything you'd like to say to Major Carter."

"Not at this time, sir." Jack gazed at Sam who was trying to maintain a confident, reassured air. He knew her well enough to know a show of bravado when he saw it. He smiled warmly at her. "You've got this aced, Carter," he said, standing to leave.

"Thank you, sir. That means a lot."

Jack was about to reply when he saw a glimpse of Sam, lying on the ground, blood everywhere from a wound. Unwittingly, he gasped, shutting his eyes, hoping to block the sight of her dying, as she reached out to him... *It's not real. It's not real. It's not real...*

"Colonel?" Sam asked, her hand gripping his upper arm.

Jack opened his eyes, taking a deep breath, unbelievably relived to see her standing before him, living, breathing. "It's nothing, Carter," he said, his voice croaking as he tried to disengage himself from her grasp.

"You're awfully pale, sir. Perhaps you should sit down."

Nodding, Jack took a seat, shakily reaching for a glass and the pitcher of water.

"Jack?" Hammond questioned. "What happened?"

Jack grimaced. "Nothing, sir. Nothing more than what's been happening all morning," he said with a grimace.

Carter exchanged a worried glance with the general. "Colonel, maybe you should go see Janet..."

"No!" he angrily cut her off. "I'm not having another damn thing done to me!" Jack buried his face in his hands, wishing when he looked at his fingers he didn't still see Sam's blood. He knew it was an illusion. So why was it he could practically feel the slick stickiness when he rubbed his hands?

"Son," Hammond said in his quiet, authoritative tone. "Perhaps if you just got a bit of rest..."

"General, I appreciate your concern, but no amount of rest is going to change this. It only gets worse when I let my mind drift. I may not be fit to lead this mission, but I'll be damned if my team is going to step through that gate without me being there to see them off!"

Hammond nodded his head in understanding. "Very well. Be in the 'gate room at 1000."

*********

Sam sat in the locker room, going over plans in her head one more time. If it was just SG-1 she was leading, she wouldn't be so nervous. She did well enough the time she led the team when they'd gone to PXY-887 in search of Trinium, but this was different. A full-blown rescue operation commanding four teams, counting her own, upped the stakes. Jack's faith meant a lot, but she was serious when she said she'd feel a whole lot better if he was backing her up.

She'd gone to the general before the briefing to see if he'd reconsider letting Jack accompany them, but he had remained firm. Sam found the scene replaying itself in her memory as finished gearing up.

***

Knocking on Hammond's door, Sam hoped the beat didn't sound as hesitant as she felt.

"Come."

Striding into the room, Sam stood at attention, giving the general a crisp salute. No sense jeopardizing her mission by being a sloppy officer.

"At ease, Major," Hammond said, laying down his pen. "What can I do for you?"

Sam relaxed her stance, placing her hands behind her back. "Sir, I was wondering if you'd reconsider allowing Colonel O'Neill to accompany us on the rescue mission."

Hammond let out a sigh. She could see he was trying to find a diplomatic way to phrase his denial of her request, and she felt herself deflate a bit.

"Major, please have a seat," he said, motioning to one of the chairs in front of his desk. "I know you and your team feel I'm being unfair to Jack by keeping him off this mission, but in actuality, it's quite the opposite. No one can tell me what further exposure to the planet will do to him. What if I allow him to go, and he completely looses his ability to think objectively? It would effectively end his career, at least in the field. You know as well as I, Jack O'Neill wouldn't handle watching his team go off without him. I don't think he'd last a week."

"I don't know if I'd give him that long, sir." Sam smiled, looking down at her hands in her lap. "Which is exactly my point, General. Colonel O'Neill isn't going to take watching us leave this morning any easier. I know he doesn't resent that you've put me in charge, but I know how he feels about being left behind."

"Major, Sam," Hammond amended. "I know how close all of you are, and the thought of leaving a member of your team back here is like... like losing an arm or a leg. But how would you feel about losing that limb permanently when you could get by for a while with it in a cast? Dr. Fraiser can't tell me what effects he might suffer if he returns to the planet. Can you?"

Sam looked away from him. "No, sir, I can't."

"Then, Major, I have no choice. My decision stands."

***

Sam reached down to lace her boots. Maybe the general was right. After Jack's latest episode in the briefing room, she'd been convinced. They couldn't risk him returning to Yolaris. He'd tried to brush off his latest vision, but it was obvious it hadn't been pleasant. What would they do if Jack's distracting visions were permanent?

********

Jack looked at his watch with a frustrated sigh. An hour to kill before SG-1, 2, 3 and 6 took off for their mission. Damn, he felt useless! *This must be how Hammond feels,* he thought. *Always left behind, waiting for teams either to embark or return. Is this what I have to look forward to?* Jack wondered as he wandered down a hallway. On the one hand, he'd be Hammond's logical replacement when the general opted for retirement, but given his record of insubordination and disregard for regulations, he doubted he'd be accorded the honor.

Heading towards his quarters, Jack saw the flash of Sam being hurt again. Why the hell couldn't he see something else? If he was going be hallucinating, why couldn't the visions be more along the lines of what he saw last night when Sam was pulling him to his bedroom? Now *that* he wouldn't mind seeing a few more times, or maybe even a conclusion! Instead, he kept seeing her with some kind of injury, her blood pooled around her. The worst of it was, in the vision she was grasping the front of his BDUs. Her hands leaving streaks of blood on his uniform as she begged,

"Please, Jack! Please, help me!" Not "Colonel," not "sir," but "Jack." Somehow, hearing her calling him by name made her plea even more heartfelt.

Jack shut his eyes, hoping to dispel the sight, but it only seemed to intensify. Shaking his head, he opened the door to his room, flopping down on the hard bed. He slung an arm over his eyes, trying to force himself to think of something that didn't involve someone dying.

"Dad?" he heard a voice calling in his head. *Oh, please, God,* Jack wailed inwardly. *Don't let me start seeing Charlie's death!*

"Dad, you have to save her."

Jack could see a vague image of a boy in the distance, features blurred by a swirling mist "Charlie?"

"Yeah, Dad."

"But how... It's not really you, is it?" Jack asked, thoroughly confused.

"I can't explain it, Dad. I don't have time. I just came to tell you, it's real. You have to save her."

"Sam's really going to die? It's not like when I saw Daniel shot?"

"You have to save her," the image repeated.

"But how? I can't protect her! Hammond won't let me go!"

"Make him listen." Charlie started to fade away as Jack reached out to grab him, only to come away empty handed.

"Charlie!" he called, but there was only silence.

Jack sat up with a start. "Shit!" he swore aloud, grinding his palms into his eyes. There was no way Charlie had actually come to him. He saw another flash of Sam getting shot. The visions were coming closer together, almost as if his brain was shouting at him to pay attention.

Running his fingers through his hair, Jack let out a tortured sigh. Maybe he *was* going crazy. Sam would be all right. It was just like when he saw Daniel shot. "He really hadn't been in any danger. It was just his hyperactive imagination. That's all this was, him envisioning the worst-case scenario. Why was the image was always the same? If he were making this up, wouldn't he add some variety to the way she died?

*********

Sam paced in front of the Stargate, waiting for members of the various SG teams to assemble. She was early, and knew it, but she wanted to be ready. Was Jack this nervous each time they headed out? He seemed to have nonchalance down to an art. If his stomach was tied in as many knots as hers was, he sure didn't show it.

Daniel and Teal'c arrived, walking over to where she was wearing a hole in the floor.

"Hey, Sam," Daniel said, greeting her with a smile. "How are you holding up?"

She gave him a nervous smile. "Okay, I guess. I don't know how the colonel makes this look so easy."

Daniel reached out, giving her shoulder a squeeze. "He's had years of practice. You'll do just fine."

"Thanks, Daniel. I'm glad you guys are going to be there to back me up," she said, smiling at him once more.

"Ready to ship out, Major?" Jack asked, coming up behind her.

Sam turned to face him, giving him what she hoped was a confident nod. "Yes, sir!"

"You've got some good people behind you, Carter. Make us proud!"

Sam was about to comment when she noticed his smile slipping into a grimace. "Sir? Colonel, are you all right?"

"Yeah, just those pesky little visions. Nothing to worry about. Now, bring 'em all back with you." Sam didn't miss him wincing at his last words. His parting advice could be taken more ways than one. Did he know something he wasn't telling her?

The last of the teams arrived and Sam walked up the ramp slightly to get a good view of the people she wished to address.

"I just want to run through the plan one last time before we head out. SG-2 and 6, you're with me. We're going to head to the cave where we found the inhabitants of P9X-445. SG-6 will enter and secure the cave while SG-2 and I provide cover. SG-3, Teal'c and Daniel will cover the route to the Stargate. Any questions?" The room was silent. "Very well. Sergeant Davis, start the dial-up. Prepare for embarkation."

Sam stepped off the ramp, adjusting her helmet. So far so good. Now all they had to do was bring back a few hundred people who didn't speak their language. Piece of cake, right?

*********

Jack jammed his hands in his pockets as he watched Sam lead the way through the Stargate. He'd hoped she hadn't noticed he was seeing yet another instant replay of her death. However, her concern made it evident he hadn't masked his feelings as well as he thought. He didn't think he'd react after witnessing her die so many times in the past hour, but when he saw the look on her face, it sent a jolt through him. One he couldn't conceal.

Hammond shook Jack from his morbid thoughts as he placed a hand on his shoulder. "I know this is hard, son, but I truly believe this is in your best interest. Major Carter is ready for this command. I wouldn't have assigned her if I didn't believe she was up to the task."

"Yes, sir. I know she is." If only he could tell the general his true worries.

"Colonel, I know you feel a bit at loose ends right now with your team off world. The units I assigned to convert storage rooms into temporary housing for our soon-to-be refugees could use a hand. Would you mind..."

Jack gave Hammond a rueful smile. Giving him busy work now, was he? "I was just about to suggest that, sir."

Hammond nodded his understanding, patting him on the back once again. God, he couldn't take much more of everyone's polite concern.

*********

Sam settled into position on the ridge overlooking the cave, flanked by SG-2. SG-6, lead by Major Hank Griff, was located near the entrance waiting for her signal to proceed. Glancing to her right, Sam saw Major James Coburn, the man who'd replaced Ferretti six months ago. From what she knew of him, he was a good leader, well respected by the men under his command, but she didn't know him. Not like she had Ferretti. Granted, Ferretti had been more the Colonel's friend than hers, but she'd socialized with him. Felt she knew something about him. She couldn't say the same for Coburn.

As SG-2 took their place on the ridge, Coburn signaled his team's readiness to Sam. Looking through her binoculars, Sam noticed the distinct lack of activity at the opening of the cave. Perhaps the Jaffa and inhabitants were deeper in the cave, preparing for the bad weather threatening to erupt at any moment.

Sam reached for her radio and pressed the talk button. "Sierra Golf Six-Niner, this is Sierra Golf Leader. Prepare to move out."

"Sierra Golf Leader, this is Sierra Golf Six-Niner. Roger that," Major Griff returned.

"Major, it looks awfully quiet down there. Stay alert. Good luck, we've got you covered."

Griff signaled for his team to advance. They moved quickly and efficiently, securing the entrance of the cave in almost textbook fashion. They looked as though they had the situation well in hand, but Sam didn't allow her guard to drop. She still had a bad feeling about how quiet things were.

She looked over at Coburn who shifted his tense body to find a more comfortable crouch. They were all on edge, waiting for some indication of trouble or that their assistance was required.

Minutes ticked on forever and Sam wondered if she should contact Griff, but decided against distracting him. She was contemplating how much longer she should wait before she and SG-2 moved in to investigate when she heard Griff's voice in her earpiece.

"Sierra Golf Leader, this is Sierra Golf Six-Niner. Major, is there a back way out of this place?

Because there's no one here."

*********

Jack was helping an airman move a bed when he heard Ahzka's voice so loud in his head it caused him to stumble.

*O'NEILL! You must come now!*

"Sir?" the young man asked. "Are you all right?"

Jack rubbed his temples, trying to will away the pain. "No, I'm not. I have to go see the general. You'll have to get someone else to help you move these." Without another word, Jack turned and left, leaving the astonished man staring after him.

Practically running to the elevators, Jack sent a prayer of thanks that the doors were open and waiting. He pushed the button for level 28 repeatedly, even though he knew the elevator wouldn't move any faster with his insistent prodding.

Tentatively, Jack mentally called out, *Ahzka? You there?* There was no answer and he felt incredibly silly. Of course he wouldn't answer! He just couldn't shake the feeling of urgency he was left with. He'd heard Ahzka plain as day, and it only added to the trepidation he'd felt about letting Carter go through the Stargate. He had to go regardless what the general said. Somehow he had to convince him, or a lot more people than just Sam were going to be casualties of this mission.

**********

Jack burst into Hammond's office without knocking. The general was so surprised he couldn't find words to chastise his second-in-command.

"Sir, I'm sorry," Jack said, raising his hands defensively. "I have to go to Yolaris!"

Hammond recovered, standing to close his door. "Jack, we've been through all this! No means no!"

"Yes, sir, but..."

"There are no buts, Colonel! Now, I believe you were assigned to help with the conversion of the storage rooms."

"General, I heard Ahzka! He was pleading with me to come to the planet!"

Hammond shook his head. "Have you listened to yourself, lately? I think I've been very patient with you, Colonel. I could have sent you to Dr. MacKenzie when this whole business began. I'm about to rethink that decision."

"Sir, you can't!" At Hammond's look of reproach he added, "what I mean, General, is that it'll be too late!"

"Too late?" Hammond watched Jack pace around his office, trying to organize his thoughts.

"Sir, I didn't tell you what I saw during the briefing this morning, what I've been seeing since then." Jack's words were deliberate, as if by slowing his pace, he'd sound more reasonable.

"And what would that be?" Hammond asked.

"I've been seeing visions of Major Carter being killed. Shot by a staff weapon."

"The same way as you saw Dr. Jackson hurt? You don't see some sort of a pattern here, Colonel? Your best friends killed by staff weapons? Perhaps I was wrong not to send you to Doctor..."

"General, it's not what you're thinking!"

"And how do you know what I'm thinking?"

"You think I've cracked, gone over the edge, but I haven't!" Jack rubbed a hand over his face and took a seat on the edge of a chair in front of the general's desk. "Sir, I'd be the first one to doubt anyone making the claims I am, but you know me! You know I wouldn't purposely try to undermine my credibility! This feels *real!* I can't explain it any other way! With every passing minute this feeling of... desperation grows worse! It's not just about Sam, it's Ahzka as well."

Hammond looked up at O'Neill, the use of his 2IC's first name was not lost on him. This was personal, and that made his wanting to go even more dangerous. "I'm not sure what you expect me to do, Jack."

"Let me go to Yolaris. Let me keep Carter from getting killed."

The request sounded so simple, just send him through the 'gate. But what about the effects the planet could have on him? Hadn't he just had this conversation with Major Carter a little over an hour ago?

"General, please. I can appreciate that you're trying to look out for me, especially when you feel I'm not in a position to be making rational decisions..."

"Exactly."

"But I *have* to do this! How do you expect me to carry on if Carter dies? You think I could be permanently damaged if I go back to Yolaris. Do you have any idea how damaged I'll be if I lose a member of my team when there was something I could have done to stop it?"

Hammond looked down at his desk. Jack was right, and he knew it. While he wasn't sure there would be any residual effects from sending him back, he knew without a doubt there would be severe, permanent emotional fallout if Major Carter died. Especially if there was a way Jack could have prevented it.

Looking up at Jack, Hammond sighed. "It's against my better judgment, but I guess I don't have a lot of choice. Gear up and I'll see you in the 'gate room."

"Thank you, sir. You won't regret this," Jack said, leaping to his feet and saluting briskly.

"Just make sure I don't."

*********

Daniel looked up as he heard the sound of the Stargate engaging. "Teal'c!" he called in an exaggerated whisper. "You hear that? It sounds like the 'gate activating!"

"Indeed," Teal'c said, peering around the rocks he was hiding behind. "I do not believe the SGC would be sending more teams. Perhaps I should investigate."

"Teal'c! Wait! What if it's more Jaffa?" Daniel continued in a low voice.

"Then I shall find out."

"I'm coming with you!"

"I do not know if that is wise, DanielJackson. We are to help Major Wilson and SG-3 secure this area."

"Which is why you shouldn't go off by yourself! Look, I'll come with you, if there's trouble we'll radio Wilson."

Teal'c appeared to consider Daniel's suggestion. "Very well. This way," he instructed, keeping low behind what rock outcroppings they could find.

They weren't far from the 'gate when Daniel heard the sound of someone running. It seemed to be one person, and not heavy, like Jaffa sounded. Readying his MP-5, Daniel looked across the path to where Teal'c was hiding. At Teal'c's nod, they both stood, ready to fire on the unsuspecting runner.

"Halt!" Teal'c ordered at the same time Daniel stood, taking aim.

"Whoa! Easy guys!"

"Jack?" Daniel asked incredulously, his mouth dropping open.

"O'Neill. I did not expect to find you here," Teal'c said, lowering his staff weapon.

"Well, I was a little surprised Hammond relented myself," Jack said, giving his friends a quick smile. "Uh, Daniel? You mind pointing that thing somewhere else? It's not that I don't trust you. It's just that... I'd just feel better if it wasn't aimed at me."

Daniel looked down at the weapon in his hands, and allowed the gun to drop, held to his side by the strap. "What are you doing here?"

"Long story, Danny. I gotta find Carter. Any idea where she is?"

"Sam? She's with SG-2 and 6 at the cave."

"Look, I don't have time to explain. Sam's in danger and I have to find her. If you see her before I do, keep an eye out; she's gonna be hurt!" he called as he started running in the direction of the cave.

Daniel's eyes met Teal'c's as they watched Jack sprinting away. "What the hell was that all about? Did Jack have a vision of her or something? Is that why Hammond let him come? If she's in danger, what's he doing running off to save her by himself? Shouldn't we be going with him? Why doesn't he just call her on the radio and warn her?"

Teal'c raised his hand, attempting to stop the barrage of questions Daniel fired at him. "I do not know the answers to your questions, DanielJackson. We shall have to wait."

"He's been a little out there lately. Should we go with him? What if Sam really is in trouble and he needs our help? Who does he think he is, anyway?"

"I believe he knows himself to be Colonel O'Neill," Teal'c stated.

"Oh, never mind!" Daniel groused. "I just don't think he should be doing this alone!"

"If he required our assistance, he would have requested it. In the mean time, we have our orders to aid Major Wilson in securing this area. We should return to our post."

"Teal'c, I can't believe you're just going to ignore the fact Sam could be in trouble! I think we should follow him."

"DanielJackson, O'Neill has been wrong before about the level of danger one of his friends has been in. MajorCarter has ordered me to this area and I will not disobey her directives."

Daniel was torn. Maybe Teal'c was right. If Jack wanted help, he wouldn't have hesitated to ask them for it. As much as he hated to admit it, he knew they had little choice. Something was going on, that was for sure. Other wise Hammond wouldn't have allowed Jack back on the planet. And why hadn't Sam reported in? Surely they would have infiltrated the cave by now? Daniel looked up as the larger of the' two suns was blanketed by clouds. "Oh, great. This is just what we need!"

*********

Sam looked over at Coburn. "What do you mean they're not there?" she asked into her mic. "No one?"

"Nothing, Major," Griff informed her. "Their fires are cold as well. Judging from the look of things, I'd say they left soon after you and the rest of SG-1 were here."

"Damn it," she cursed under her breath. Had the Jaffa known they were coming? The people they were trying to rescue were at least partially psychic. Could one of them have said something? Bargained with a Jaffa with the information? Or was it worse? Was there a Goa'uld who'd taken a psychic host?

"Sierra Golf Six-Niner to Sierra Golf Leader, do you copy?"

"Sorry, Six," Sam spoke into her radio. "Just going over our options. Looks like we're going to have to put the search part of your training to work, Griff."

She had no idea where to start looking. If only Jack was here. Maybe he'd get a vision of something, anywhere they could look.

"Well, Major, if this rain holds off for a bit yet we might be able to track them. Once it starts, though, we won't have anything to go by," said Griff.

"Roger that, Six. I'm going to contact Major Wilson with our change in plans. Start your search. Coburn and I will be right behind you if you run into any trouble."

"Copy that, Sierra Golf Leader. Sierra Golf Six out."

"Major Coburn!" Sam called, motioning him closer. "Change in plans."

"Yeah, I gathered that. You really think SG-6 can track them down?"

"I hope so, otherwise this whole mission has been a bust, and I'm not about to accept that. Prepare your team. I'm going to radio Wilson. Sierra Golf Three-Niner, this is Sierra Golf Leader, come in." There was a crackle of static, and no response. Sam tried again with the same result. "Major, I can't get through, see if you have better luck."

Coburn tried twice, again with no result. "I think that ridge behind us is blocking our transmission."

Sam looked to the sky. "Or it could be electrical interference from the approaching storm. We better get going before we lose contact with SG-6. That rain's going to come at any moment, and then we'll really be screwed."

Coburn nodded, moving his people out.

Sam was about to join them when she noticed a lone figure hiding behind some rocks near the cave. She could see it wasn't anyone from the SGC.

"Major Coburn, there's someone near the cave at three o'clock. I'm going to check it out. You stay with SG-6. I'll be right behind you."

"But, Major..."

"No arguments, Major. That's an order!" Sam felt awkward giving her peer orders. Still, she was in charge of this mission and she was sure Coburn understood. "Keep trying to contact SG-3 or Teal'c and Daniel."

"Yes, Major. Watch yourself," he said, smiling at her. Sam allowed herself a small grin before heading down the hillside to the person who'd disappeared behind the rocks.

*********

*O'Neill...* Jack heard in his head. *Hurry! I don't have much time!*

*Ahzka! I don't have time for this right now! Sam might die if I don't find her!*

*You must listen to me! Many more will die if you don't come!*

*Do you know where Sam is? Can you tell me where to find her?*

*I could help you locate her, but first you must come to me!*

Jack stopped dead in his tracks. What was he talking about? He was dead! If he knew something, why the hell didn't he just *tell* him where to find her!

*You must find me. I'm in a cavern, not far from you.*

*But Sam!* Jack's mind implored. *I didn't go through all this just to be distracted by your cryptic messages! You tell me where she is, and I'll talk to you all night if you want! We can start our own psychic chat room if you like, but I'm *going* to find her!*

*O'Neill,* Ahzka's weakening voice sounded in his head. *You don't understand. This is the only way to save her! You must come!*

*And just how am I supposed to find you?*

*Open your mind. You will see the way to the cave.*

What was with all the caves, anyway? Didn't people hide in abandoned buildings anymore?

*Sha'lor prefers the temperature in the caves. Better for his... equipment.*

*Sha'lor? Who's this Sha'lor guy?* Jack wondered. It was a name Ahzka hadn't mentioned before. If he didn't know better he'd almost think it was... *No, it can't be,* he thought, rounding a bend, seeing the entrance to the cave.

*Can't be what, O'Neill? A Goa'uld name? You forget I know your thoughts, even if you do not think them all the way through. Unfortunately, so does Sha'lor.*

"Ahzka! Where are you?" Jack called into the completely dark cave.

*It is not much further, O'Neill! Please hurry!*

Jack switched on his flashlight, sweeping the beam across the floor. *This place is kind of creepy,* he thought. Hopefully Yolaris doesn't have the equivalent of bats.*

*We do not,* Ahzka assured him. *But I do not think you'd be partial to the nocturnal creatures that inhabit the further reaches of the cave.*

Jack shivered involuntarily. * Great. Alien creepy-crawlies,*

Raising the beam of the flashlight slightly, Jack saw a body lying among the rocks. "Jesus!" he exclaimed, his hand automatically moving to his sidearm.

"Do not be afraid, O'Neill," the figure spoke.

"Ahzka? But how? You're dead, I mean you *told* me you were dead! You said that was how you could talk to me."

"I did not lie to you, O'Neill. I am dead. Worse than dead." Ahzka winced in pain, shaking his head as if struggling with something. His eyes glowed momentarily.

"Christ! You're a host!" Jack cried, backing up. "Sha'lor really is a Goa'uld?"

"Yes, but he is subdued for the moment. I cannot hold him long. That is why we must hurry. I must tell you what I can before Sha'lor prevents me."

"How is it he hasn't blended with you? How do I know you're you?"

"He has blended with me, but with practice, I have learned to subdue him."

Jack thought about the statement. The Goa'uld claim nothing of the host remains, but Ahzka had spoken to him many times. Perhaps with his psychic abilities, Ahzka had managed to hold on to that part of himself that was unique.

"O'Neill! Sha'lor grows stronger. You must to listen to me. I did not lie when I told how the end came to my people, but I didn't tell you the whole truth when I said I was dead."

"Obviously," Jack muttered under his breath. He didn't have time for Ahzka's ambiguous statements. He needed to find Sam.

"I will help you find her, but first you must listen. The visions you've been having have been a combination of my memories and what Sha'lor wants you to see. It is his mind that has been in contact with yours all this time. At least until today."

Jack felt dirty, used. The thought of a Goa'uld-controlled mind having access to his thoughts made him feel as if he'd been raped. "So he knows everything that I know, about the SGC, Earth, everything."

"I'm afraid so."

Why hadn't he tried harder to block his thoughts? Ahzka had been fully psychic most of his life. He would have known the way around any petty blocks Jack could have erected. And he hadn't even tried. After all, what would some guy who'd been dead for hundreds of years do with any top secret information he carried?

"I tricked you," Ahzka admitted. "Or rather Sha'lor did, using me as his instrument, as he always does."

"So he's the one who gave me the false vision of Daniel dying, of Charlie, of Sam... doing other things."

"Actually, he was responsible only for the last one." Ahzka shrugged his shoulders. "He was trying to find how deep your feelings ran for her. You close this part off, even from yourself. I suspect he was trying to find a weakness. It is what he does."

Jack coughed, reddening slightly at Ahzka's implication that Sam was his weak spot. "But Daniel? Charlie?"

"Daniel was me. I was testing to see if I could influence you on my own. I needed to know when the time came."

"And Charlie?"

"The time had come. I knew you couldn't refuse a request from your son, especially when it had to do with the woman you..."

"Work with," Jack quickly supplied.

Ahzka smiled. "You have a great capacity for denial."

"So why the big production?" Jack asked, trying to switch the subject. "Why show me Sam's death?"

"I didn't plant the vision of Sam's death."

"So, she really is gonna die?!"

"If Sha'lor has his way. Charlie was my means to get you here. For her sake as well as mine. O'Neill!" Ahzka cried as his body convulsed. He broke out into a cold sweat, his breathing labored as he struggled to continue. "Time grows short. I must tell you of his plans," Ahzka panted. "You must be the one to stop him as I have no means to do it. I've waited forever for someone who could help me end this living death."

Jack crept closer, straining to hear Ahzka's words. He was careful not to move too close should Ahzka fail to keep Sha'lor under control.

"When Apophis came to our planet the second time, it was as we showed you, but there was a young Goa'uld under his command named Sha'lor whose host was dying from wounds sustained in battle. I had just killed my family and slit my own throat, waiting to die as I fell next to Sha'lor. I could see his glowing eyes assessing me, taking note of my wounds and his chances at healing them. Apparently he decided I was worth the risk, and he left his dying host to invade my body. Imagine his delight in discovering he had not only survived, but taken over the body of the rebel leader. And as an added bonus, he now had access to all my psychic abilities.

"He alone held the secret to Yolaris and over the years he slowly insinuated himself into Apophis' good graces, pretending to live only to serve the System Lord. While appearing to be raising an army of psychic Jaffa for Apophis, he was really assembling them for himself. To one day over-throw his Lord."

"So our little rescue mission kind of put a damper on his plans, right?"

"He has known you were coming to save his slaves since the thought entered your mind."

"He must have known we were coming on the recon mission too. Why not stop us then?"

"He cannot afford to be too obvious. If Apophis found out Sha'lor knew of your coming, he would question how. He allowed you to find the people in the caves. He eagerly anticipated your arrival today. He sees battling with you and your people as a training exercise for his new army."

Jack shook his head. Sha'lor had been playing him since their first visit to Yolaris. What if he hadn't been knocked out? Would Sha'lor have ignored them if he hadn't been influenced by the planet? Would he have let Carter set up her weather thingies without revealing himself? *What if I've been the one who's brought this all on?* he thought, his eyes widening. He shook his head, bringing his thoughts back to the present. "So, at this point Apophis thinks Sha'lor is his dutiful little servant. He has no clue the body he inhabits is yours."

"That is correct."

"He's been keeping you alive with a sarcophagus, hasn't he?"

"Yes. It is in the rear of the cave. I tried to destroy it, but I do not have the means. Ever since I began showing signs I could control him for short periods, Sha'lor has kept no weapons within reach."

"Sounds like he's thought of everything."

"Not quite everything," Ahzka said.

"What do you mean?"

"He didn't count on the fact I could get through to you. Now, you must do what I cannot. Kill me, O'Neill. You have a zat'nik'tel, do you not?"

"Well, yeah, but..."

"Then you must use it on me, and the sarcophagus so there is no chance this can happen again."

"Ahzka, there's another way. We know these people, the Tollan, and with the help of the Tok'ra they can get that snake out of you."

"Sha'lor must die, here, now. You said yourself he has access to all you know of your planet. He can not be allowed to live."

"But what about you? Are you going to let that son-of-a-bitch' snake take you with him?"

"He has had me from the day he took me as a host. I died that day as surely as if I had bled to death."

Jack nodded his understanding. "Where did he move the people to?" Jack asked as he readied the zat.

Ahzka chuckled. "Back to where this all began. Back to the city of Uhlkan. Rather fitting, don't you think?"

"You're sure about this?" Jack asked, raising the zat to shoot.

"Yes. Watch the hill that overlooks the city. That is where the shot will come from."

"Shot?"

"The one that kills Samantha," Ahzka said matter-of-factly.

"Ahzka, these visions they're not set in stone, are they? I mean, I can change things now that I know what will happen, right?"

"The visions are but one path. If you do nothing, Samantha *will* die."

"So I can still save her?"

"The possibility exists." Ahzka's breathing was becoming more erratic, and Jack noticed the brief flash of his eyes. "You must shoot now! Time grows short for us all." Jack looked down at his zat, hesitating. In the moment he wavered, Ahzka's eyes glowed completely.

Sha'lor's reverberating voice came from Ahzka's throat, as he laughed. "Fool! The Tau'ri are such a sentimental lot! You shall pay for your insolence when my forces not only kill your people, but your woman as well!"

Jack raised the zat, aiming it at the Goa'uld's chest. "Oh, there's not a chance in hell," he said, squeezing off the first shot.

"Thank you, O'Neill," Ahzka managed through clenched teeth, as Jack fired a second time, then a third. Electric currents flowed over the body Ahzka had shared with Sha'lor for centuries before it disintegrated.

"I hope your struggle is finally over, Ahzka," Jack spoke quietly, turning to seek out the sarcophagus. It was pushed against a far wall, covered with dust. At least he had the satisfaction of knowing it hadn't been used in a while. Feeling no remorse at the technology he was destroying, Jack raised the zat, firing three shots in rapid succession.

*********

Sam made her way down the steep incline of the ridge, skirting the open area in front of the cave. Heading toward the rocks where she'd last seen the figure, she kept looking to see if the person was trying to escape, or simply remain concealed. So far, Sam had seen no other movement. Chances were she'd find the individual where she'd first spotted him or her.

Coming around the rock outcropping, Sam startled a raggedly dressed woman. She was groping at her side for a crude knife, which she promptly turned on Sam.

"Easy," Sam said, pushing her gun behind her as she held up her hands. "I'm not going to hurt you."

The woman's eyes went wide with fear as Sam took a step closer. Speaking a language Sam didn't recognize, the woman yelled something that was clearly a warning. Even though the woman's actions were obvious, Sam wished Daniel were with her to translate. He didn't always understand the languages of the people SG-1 encountered, but there was something about Daniel that calmed nervous natives. She couldn't put her finger on which of his qualities reassured skeptical people of their peaceful intentions, but she could use a bit of it right now.

Sam stood frozen before the disheveled woman. Her coarse, dark hair was coming undone from a loose braid, and she looked generally unkempt. The terrified look in her eyes made Sam feel sorry for her, wishing she could prove to the woman she meant her no harm. No doubt, she'd seen little in the way of compassion in her life.

A sudden flash of lightning distracted the woman long enough for Sam to knock the makeshift weapon from her hand. Finding herself at a disadvantage, the woman backed slowly away from Sam, ready to bolt.

Moving between the woman and the only route of escape, Sam again held up her hands, trying to show she wasn't going to hurt her. "Just my luck I get the new recruit who hasn't been here long enough to become psychic," Sam said, shaking her head.

Pointing to the woman, then to the cave, Sam raised her shoulders and arms, silently asking what happened to the others.

The woman stared at her in confusion, either not understanding, or unwilling to tell Sam the answer. Gesturing her request several times with no result, Sam pulled the resisting woman forward, pointing to her then to the cave.

"Where did they go?" she asked, growing impatient. Maybe she didn't really know where the Jaffa had taken the people. More likely she was too afraid to tell her, fearing Sam would drag her back to the others.

Sam spotted a stick and handed it to the woman, demonstrating she should draw in the sandy ground where the others had gone. The fearful young woman shook her head, tears filling her eyes.

"Show me!" Sam demanded.

The tone of Sam's voice shocked the woman into action, and she hesitantly began drawing an approximate map. At first Sam didn't recognize what she'd used for landmarks, but then the woman drew what appeared to be buildings.

"Uhlkan," she said, looking uncertainly at Sam.

"Uhlkan? What does that mean? Is that the name of this place?" It could have been the city she and the rest of SG-1 had been to on their initial survey of the planet. They were the only buildings she'd seen, so it had to be what the woman was trying to tell her. It made sense; it was the only defensible area she'd seen, other than the cave. It might be a long shot, but it was all she had at the moment.

Reaching for her radio, she called Major Griff. "Sierra Golf Six-Niner, this is Sierra Golf Leader, come in."

"Sierra Golf Six here, go ahead Leader."

"Major, I have reason to believe the people have been moved to the abandoned city SG-1 found on our first mission. What's your twenty?"

"I estimate we're about two klicks from the cave."

"Copy that. I'm guessing the city is about one more klick west of your current position. Assemble your team on south edge of the city, at the base of the cliff. We'll rendezvous with SG-2, 3 and the rest of SG-1 and make plans from there."

"Affirmative. Six out."

Sam looked over at the woman who was watching her intently. She was about to radio Coburn when the woman darted towards the cave. After a short dash, Sam caught up with her, pulling her back from the entrance, guiding her to the west. Realizing which direction they were heading, the woman struggled in Sam's grip, shouting at her. She didn't need to understand this woman's language to recognize profanity when she heard it.

"Yeah, well, I'm not to fond of you either, sister," Sam said, prodding the woman forward. She continued to fight Sam, trying to break away. "Look, you can't stay here!" Carter yelled at her, wishing there was some way to make the woman understand she was trying to help her.

Sam stopped then, picked up another stick and drew a circle with small steps in the sand. "Chappa'ai?" she asked, pointing to her rough drawing, uncertain if the term was universal.

The woman's head shot up at the mention of the word. "Nak! Nak!" she cried, shaking her head, eyes filled with terror as she tried to disengage herself from Sam.

*Well *that* was the wrong thing to say!* Sam thought to herself, fighting to maintain her hold on the woman. *I sure hope Nak means no.*

"Nak!" said Sam, giving the woman a hard shake, startling her into obedience. How did she explain going to the Stargate was a good thing? Maybe she should eighty-six the idea of the Stargate for the time being. The woman might be of some use in communicating with the rest of the captives, providing of course they met up with Daniel and he could understand her. It seemed like a lot of ifs but she didn't have a lot of options at the moment. "Nak," Sam repeated, erasing her picture with the sole of her boot. Grasping her meaning, the woman relaxed slightly, until Sam began moving her forward again.

"We have to go!" Sam insisted. Pointing at the scuffed drawing and then pointing to the west, Sam was clearly offering the woman a choice. The woman's shoulders slumped in defeat and she started to walk on her own.

Sam loosened her grip once they were some distance from the cave, and eventually dropped her hand from the woman's arm, hoping her act of faith wouldn't be betrayed. The woman looked over at Sam, who gave her a small smile. It took a moment, but the woman dipped her head slightly her lips curling into the beginnings of a grin.

Carter let out a sigh, allowing herself to relax a bit for the first time since she'd encountered this woman. A roll of thunder caused them both to look to the sky and both pick up their pace.

"Sierra Golf Two-Niner, this is Sierra Golf Leader."

"Lea-er, th- is T-," Coburn's voice crackled over the radio.

"Any luck with contacting Sierra Golf Three-Niner?"

"O-nce -e cleared th- -idge we conta-ed t-em. Storm k-ps inter-ering."

"Copy that. I'm having trouble receiving you, Two."

"B-d on t-is end -oo."

"Any better luck talking to Six?"

"L-ttle b-tter."

"Six has my orders. Get the plans from Major Griff. "R-ger -at. Two o-t."

Sam shook her head. What else could go wrong with this mission? As if the heavens had heard her silent question, they chose that moment to open.

"Thank you!" Sam cried to the sky. "This is all that was missing!" Looking sheepishly at her companion she felt her face flush. "Sorry. Guess I've been spending too much time with the colonel. Not that you have any clue about what I'm saying."

At the woman's blank stare, Sam felt uncomfortable again. Clearing her throat she said, "We'd better get moving."

**********

Jack tried his radio for the third time, but received no response. Damn! How was he going to warn Sam when he couldn't get through? Of course *now* it had to start raining. Watching the flashes of lightning, Jack realized it was probably the reason for the radio interference. Standing in the mouth of the cave where he'd found Ahzka, he was somewhat protected from the driving rain, but it wouldn't be long before he'd have to venture out into the torrent.

From his vision, he knew Sam would be in the city, so somehow she must have found out where the Jaffa had taken their captives. It stood to reason she was headed there now, probably with SG-2 and 6. If that was the case, they couldn't be far away. So why would he still be having so much trouble getting through? Even with the storm he should have picked up something. He hadn't tried contacting Major Wilson, or Teal'c and Daniel yet. Maybe he'd have better luck with them.

After several tries he gave up. Leaning against the wall of the cave, the vision of Sam began again. Jack tried to concentrate on seeing things other than the killing shot that might give him some clue as to where it would actually happen. He still couldn't see much beyond Sam, and the way her bloody hands reached for him. There was only one thing he could do: return to Uhlkan and hope to hell his gut would tell him he was in the right place. And in time.

*********

Sam sat in the center of a huddle between the leaders of the SG teams, wiping the rain from her face that her hat hadn't deflected. "Okay, there's a ridge that runs along the north side. It's a good vantage point. I'm sure there will be Jaffa stationed there. Is that how you remember it, Teal'c?"

"It is. Many Jaffa will be on the higher ground and fewer guarding the prisoners. I also believe they will split up in order to weaken our resources."

Sam nodded, wondering how best to divide her forces. As she contemplated her options, she walked over to Daniel who was trying to talk to the woman she'd brought from the cave. "Any luck?" Sam asked as she hunkered down next to him.

"Well, I've managed to communicate that we won't hurt her, and we're here to liberate her people. Oh, and I got a name. She says she's called Remlat."

"Remlat?" Sam asked, her eyebrow quirking.

"It's more of a title than an actual name," Daniel said, attempting to wipe the rain from his glasses. "I think it means producer."

"Producer as in a type of supervisor?"

"More like producer in terms of supplying something. In her case, I think it's children."

Sam felt a shiver go down her spine. It was one thing to force people to do hard labor, but another entirely to use them as organic factories. Focusing her mind again, she asked, "Any chance she could help communicate with her people what it is we're trying to do? The last thing we need is for them to think we're the next bunch who want to exploit them."

"I think I can get that through to her. Even if I can't, there have to be some among her people who have enough psychic ability to know what we're trying to do," Daniel said placing a hand on Sam's arm. "How you holding up?"

Sam smiled at him. "I'm okay. Nervous as hell. I knew there would be some unforeseen complications, but guess I didn't anticipate all the odds being stacked against us. Get ready to move out."

When she started back towards the rest of the group, Daniel stopped her. "Oh! I almost forgot to tell you with all the excitement. Jack's here."

"The Colonel? Why? How? I mean General Hammond was so adamant."

Daniel shook his head. "I don't know much, only that he was hell-bent on finding you."

"He must have had a vision of where the people had been moved to," Sam surmised.

"Uh, no, it was a little more personal than that."

"What are you talking about?"

"Well," Daniel said, hesitating as he slid his glasses back on. "I don't know if I should tell you this or not."

"Daniel! What did he say?"

"He, uh, he mentioned something about you getting shot," Daniel said, wincing.

"Shot? Daniel, it's probably something like when he saw you getting shot. I can't see the general letting him come back here for that. Are you sure there wasn't something else?"

"All he said was you were in danger and he had to find you. Oh, and that you were going to be shot."

"Gee, is that all? Daniel, you don't think you could have mentioned this a little sooner?"

"I'm sorry, Sam. I guess after the way Jack's been crying wolf, I didn't want to distract you when you were trying to organize an offensive. Plus, I did get a little sidetracked with Remlat," he admitted.

She groaned softly. Now she knew how things could go from bad to worse. "Right now our primary focus is to get these people back through the Stargate." She walked away from Daniel, strapping on her helmet. What the hell did Jack think he was doing? And what about Hammond? He refused her plea to have the colonel accompany them, but turned around and sent him though three hours later? What could Jack have possibly said to convince Hammond to let him return?

The niggling thought of getting shot ran through her mind. Of course it was always a possibility in a field situation. Every soldier knew that. But now Daniel had planted the idea in her mind. Would it become a self-fulfilling prophecy? She'd just have to be a little extra cautious on the off chance Jack was right this time.

*********

Jack climbed over a grassy knoll, spotting the buildings of Uhlkan on the cliff. Pulling out his binoculars, he looked to see if he could spot any movement. It was raining too hard for him to see anything in detail, and he resigned himself to the fact he was just going to have to get closer.

With each passing minute, Jack felt the knot in his stomach tighten. He'd had a flash of Sam hunched down with the leaders of the SG teams at the base of the cliff, but when he arrived, he realized he'd missed them. As he debated which route would be the quickest to the city, the sounds of staff blasts and gunfire met his ears.

It had started! He had no idea when during the course of events Sam would be shot. For all he knew, it could already be too late. Running up the deserted road to the city, Jack risked trying to contact Sam by radio, but it was pointless. Even at this distance there was too much interference.

*Okay! Think, Jack!* he said to himself. *Ahzka said the shot would come from one of the hills overlooking the city.* Scanning the ridges, Jack saw plenty of movement as Jaffa took aim at the SG forces and fleeing prisoners. Smoke, rain, people shouting, all added together to form a chaotic mess, and he couldn't tell if their side was winning or not.

Jack darted between buildings, shooting as many Jaffa as he could. Stopping to reload, he looked up and saw Daniel and Teal'c, attempting to usher a group of people through the muddy streets.

"Daniel!" barked Jack, surprising his teammate.

"Jack? I thought you were looking for Sam!" he called down the alley.

Jack had his back against a building, and across from him, Daniel was propped in a similar manner. A staff blast erupted above Jack, causing him to crouch and run to Daniel's side of the alley.

"I am looking for her, but I can't find her. Did she tell you where she was going to be?"

"Not really, she made plans with the leaders of the other SG units, and told us to help Wilson and his team evacuate the captives."

"Damn it! I wish I had someplace to look. Ahzka said the shot would come from the hills overlooking the city, but that could be just about anywhere," he grumbled, kicking at the ground.

"Jack, I'm sorry, but you're the one who's psychic."

"Yeah, a hell of a lot of good it's done me. Guess I'll just have to keep looking. Your radio working?" Jack asked.

Daniel tried his unit, unable to make contact. "Sorry, it's no use." As Jack stood to venture back out into the street, the archeologist caught his arm. "Jack, wait. I'll go with you."

"Negative, Daniel. Your priority is to get these people back to the Stargate," Jack snapped. It was bad enough he was running around looking for one person. They couldn't spare any more resources looking for Sam, regardless of how much she meant to all of them.

"DanielJackson, we must go," Teal'c reminded him as another staff blast impacted on the building they were hiding behind.

"I'll find her, Daniel," Jack said, laying his hand on the younger man's arm. "On my signal, you guys make a break for it. I'll help Teal'c cover you."

Daniel agreed reluctantly and readied himself to run. Jack looked up toward the building where the other shots had come from, but saw no movement. Hopefully the Jaffa had moved on and wasn't waiting for them to leave the relative safety of the alley.

Jack waved to Daniel who got about half of his group out from behind the building before there was weapons fire from above.

"Go!" Jack shouted as he and Teal'c swept the area with bullets and staff blasts. There was a momentary reprieve and Jack ran to the next alley, as Teal'c retreated to follow Daniel.

"See ya back at the ranch, Teal'c!" Jack called as he began to make his way through suspiciously quiet streets. Most of the weapons fire was now to the south, but he knew he could still be targeted by the guards in the hills. He was inexplicably drawn to the north side of the city, which seemed to be a no-fire zone.

As he looked up, he spotted a familiar figure on the top of a building. From her vantage point, Sam would have a clear view of the city, and it was probably the reason she had chosen her location. From there she was in a better position to organize the rescue than she would be from a position on the ground.

Sam must have noticed him at the same time he saw her as she stood up. "Sir! Look out!" she called, trying to get his attention.

Jack felt as if he were viewing events in slow motion from outside his body. He narrowly dodged the staff blast, dropping to the ground and rolling into a crouch. He looked up in time to see Sam turn, raise her weapon, and take aim at the Jaffa who'd fired on him.

"SAM!" Jack yelled, but even his warning seemed to come slowly. She managed to squeeze off a few rounds before she was knocked flat by the concussion of a staff blast.

"You son-of-a-bitch!" Jack screamed as he riddled the Jaffa with bullets, finishing what Sam had started. Time resumed its normal pace as he heard a moan of pain from the top of the building.

Jack ran inside, frantically searching for a way to the roof. *Oh, God!* his thoughts raced. *I did this! It's all my fault! If she hadn't stood to warn me, the Jaffa wouldn't have seen her! I did this! I did this! Ididthis, Ididthis, Ididthis!*

Taking the stairs two at a time, he called out to her. "Sam! Hang on! I'm almost there!" When he cleared the entrance to the roof, he saw her lying in a growing pool of blood. His heart sank as he noticed how fast the rain was washing it away.

Jack was by her side in a matter of seconds, trying to assess how badly she was injured. It looked bad. Even though she hadn't taken the full force of the staff blast, projectiles from the blast's impact with the building had cut her shoulder deeply. The fabric of her uniform was ripped in several places. The tension in his stomach, combined with the scent of blood was making him feel sick.

Sam pressed her hand over the jagged wound as if she could staunch the flow of blood through sheer force of will.

"Carter? Carter, can you hear me? Sam? Come on, Sam! Talk to me! I didn't go through all this shit to take you home in a box!"

She blinked open her eyes, turning an unfocused gaze on him. "Sir?" she asked, her voice barely audible. "Glad you're not hurt."

"I wish I could say the same for you," he tried to joke. Her eyes fluttered shut; the muscles of her face slack. "Damn it, Sam! Stay with me here!" he demanded, digging a knuckle into her breastbone and massaging vigorously.

Sam opened her eyes once more, reaching up to grab the front of his jacket. "Help me, Jack."

*********

Daniel stood near the steps of the Stargate, watching as the last of the former prisoners passed through the event horizon.

"We should return through the Stargate and assist with settling the refugees," Teal'c said, when Daniel didn't move from his location near the Dial Home Device.

"Don't you think we should have seen or heard something from Jack by now? If he found Sam, it's likely someone would have seen them. The fighting was mostly confined to the southeast section of the city, and when I talked to Wilson and Coburn, they hadn't seen him. Coburn didn't even know Jack was here."

"Perhaps ColonelO'Neill and MajorCarter are providing cover making certain no one is left behind."

"Or pinned down somewhere, or Sam really was shot. Something about this just doesn't feel right," Daniel said, attempting to wipe the rain from his face.

"Are you too beginning to feel psychic, DanielJackson?"

"You don't have to be psychic to realize they've been out of contact for too long! Look, you go through the 'gate if you want, but I'm going to look for them."

"I do not wish to disobey MajorCarter's orders, and yet I do not wish to ignore that they are overdue. I shall accompany you."

Daniel grinned, clapping Teal'c on the arm. "Thanks Teal'c. I feel better about going to look for them knowing you're there to back me up."

Teal'c merely inclined his head in acknowledgment as he followed Daniel away from the Stargate.

*********

General Hammond stood in the control room, watching as the last of the refugees stepped down off the ramp. He waited for SG-1 to walk through the 'gate, but no one emerged from the fluctuating surface. Hammond jumped slightly as the wormhole disengaged without producing any members of his top team.

"Major Coburn?" the general spoke into the microphone. "Didn't you tell me Teal'c and Dr. Jackson were right behind you?"

Coburn turned, staring at the Stargate. "They were right behind us, sir. They didn't come through?" he asked, eyes scanning the 'gate room.

"Those people were the last to come through," Hammond said, nodding at the remaining individuals at the foot of the ramp. "And what about Major Carter and Colonel O'Neill?"

"Sir, I wasn't even aware the colonel was on P9X-445 until Jackson asked me about him. He told me he was looking to rendezvous with Major Carter."

"And did they meet up?"

"I can't say, sir. The storm produced an incredible amount of electrostatic energy. Our radios were basically useless. Frankly, I'm amazed we pulled this off with as few casualties as we did."

Hammond had to agree. Most of the injuries to the evacuees were minor, with only one or two seriously hurt, and two dead. One of Griff's men twisted an ankle, a woman on Wilson's team had taken a glancing blow on the arm from a staff weapon and two men from Coburn's team had minor staff burns. Usually his teams were worse off when they returned from field surveys. Still, it didn't explain what had happened to SG-1.

"General Hammond?" Major Griff asked, interrupting Hammond's train of thought. "Request permission to return to the planet to search for SG-1, sir."

"I'd like to volunteer my team, as well, General," Coburn said.

Hammond felt his chest swell with pride. There always seemed to be a bond between the men and women of a given unit, but the lengths the members of the SGC would go to for each other seemed extraordinary. Granted, searching for signs of O'Neill and his team was probably not the most dangerous assignment SG-2 and 6 had been on, but it spoke volumes that they'd offered their services before being asked.

"Thank you, gentlemen. Assemble what's left of your teams and prepare to embark."

*********

Jack looked down at the blood smeared on the front of his jacket. Everything was as he'd seen it in his vision, right down to Sam calling him by name. That scared him more than anything. She was always so careful to adhere to protocol, never slipping into becoming too familiar.

"Just hang in there, Carter, I'm gonna get you back to the 'gate and into Doc Fraiser's care so fast it'll make your head spin."

While Sam had slipped and become more familiar, Jack took the opposite tact. Calling her by her last name, he hoped to block the personal pain he found himself in at her injury. First thing he had to do was get her out of the rain so he could assess her wounds. Not that he could do much for her, but it would give him a better idea of what he was up against.

Jack held her upright, long enough to release her pack, praying to God she had the med kit she usually carried. Not that the meager supplies in the first aid kid would stop her bleeding. Despite the fact that moving her was one of the riskier things he could do, he lifted her as gently as possible, trying not to move her head. As Jack headed for the stairs, Sam moaned once in pain, before passing out, making it even more difficult to carry her. She really didn't weigh all that much, but limp in his arms, she felt as if she'd gained fifty pounds.

"Jeez, Carter, you gotta lay off those jelly donuts," he grunted, hoping if he joked about the situation, he'd keep his panic at bay.

Once at the bottom of the stairs, Jack put her down carefully, trying to look anywhere but at the fresh blood on his jacket.

"You really know how to get yourself into some messes, don't you, Carter? Ya couldn't just come here, rescue a few hundred people and come home, could ya? No, I have to come along, distract you, and get you hurt because I'm trying to *save you* from getting hurt. Kinda ironic, don't ya think?" Jack kept up a steady stream of babble as he worked on bandaging her wound. By the time he'd placed one pad on her shoulder, the gauze was soaked with blood.

"Damn it, Carter! Do ya think you could stop bleeding a little here? I don't have that much gauze!" Jack was feeling desperate. What did he have that might possibly act like a bandage? What about his shirt? After discarding his field jacket and removing his shirt, he rolled the lighter garment from the bottom up until it met the sleeves, forming a long tube, which he tied around Sam's shoulder almost in the fashion of a sling. Jack hoped it would place enough pressure on her wound to slow the bleeding.

He checked her for other damage, as he wondered how in the hell he was going to get her back to the 'gate. Other than her shoulder wound, she didn't seem to have any other injuries. No obviously broken bones or cuts. However, the impact from being thrown could have caused some internal damage.

Though Jack was leery of moving her, he saw little choice. He couldn't carry her for long. That was for sure. If only he had a stretcher or sled, anything he could pull her on. Wait a second! There was her poncho! If he could find something to use for poles maybe he could fashion a crude travois. He quickly made his way outside to check the deserted street. Jack found a discarded staff weapon. One more of those and he could make his conveyance. He walked a short way down the alley, scanning the area ahead of him. Not far from his original location he found the body of a fallen warrior, still clutching his staff weapon.

"Mind if I borrow this, buddy?" Jack asked as he liberated the weapon from the dead man's grasp.

Returning to Sam, he securely tied his poncho to the staffs. After scrutinizing his design and testing it, he carefully gathered her into his arms.

"Come on, Carter, we're going for a little ride," he said as he arranged her on the olive green material, securing her with her own rain gear.

Jack stepped outside the building, gun ready as he searched the area for signs of lingering Jaffa. Now that Sha'lor was dead, he imagined the warriors would be too busy with their own power struggle to notice two lone Tau'ri edging their way back to the 'gate. Surely with no further instructions from their Lord, they'd be confused long enough for them to get away.

*So far so good,* he thought as his sweep of the vicinity revealed no Jaffa. Returning to the building, Jack checked on Sam, who was still unconscious, her face deathly pale. He covered her with his field jacket before pulling her out into the street.

*********

Daniel and Teal'c slowly climbed the road to the city with their weapons at the ready, keeping their eyes open for any hostile activity. "It seems unusually quiet," Teal'c observed. "I would not have thought the Jaffa would have left the area so quickly."

"Yeah, and they sure didn't put up much of a fight once we were out of the city," Daniel commented. "It was kind of like the fight drained right out of them."

"It is as if they had lost direction," Teal'c stated. He picked up his pace, walking so quickly, Daniel had trouble keeping up.

"Even if their leader was killed they still had the objective of stopping us," Daniel said, confused.

"Perhaps no one had the authority to make decisions for the others."

"I don't understand."

"Jaffa loyal to a lord all have the same rank. There is no one above another. None would have been in a position to take charge."

"But as First Prime, you had a rank. In fact you probably had more say in battle than Apophis."

"It is true he trusted my judgment," Teal'c said. "But he was powerful enough to warrant a First Prime. Many Goa'uld who set themselves up as lords do not have that luxury. In essence they act as their own First Primes."

"So what you're saying is there was probably some minor Lord running the show here. If he was killed, the rest of the Jaffa end up pretty much directionless," Daniel said.

"It is one possibility," Teal'c answered, as they began the steep climb up to the city. "However, we should still exercise caution."

Daniel gripped his gun tighter, guiding his attention back to the task at hand. "What do you suppose happened to Jack and Sam?"

"I do not know, DanielJackson. At this juncture it is pointless to speculate if trouble has befallen them."

Daniel clamped his mouth shut. *So much for making conversation.*

*********

Looking up at the gray sky, Jack wondered if the rain was letting up, or if it was merely wishful thinking. He'd actually made fairly good progress considering he was dragging his seriously injured second-in-command through muddy streets on a makeshift travois. He wanted to stop, to check Sam's condition, but he couldn't spare the time. He needed to get her back to the Stargate as fast as humanly possible.

He was still surprised at the lack of Jaffa, but didn't let his guard down. Any sound he heard had him jumping, reaching for his gun. He wondered if the others had made it off the planet with the captives. Was it possible he and Carter were the only humans left on Yolaris? It was a daunting thought, one better left unexplored. It was bad enough Sam was bleeding heavily. He didn't need to be reminded of how alone he felt.

Jack reached the cliff where the rough, uneven road leading down to the sodden plains started. The rain had plastered his clothing to his body, making walking difficult, and now he had to try to carry Sam as well. He'd never seen a stretch of terrain look so daunting.

Bending down, he pressed his fingers against her neck, feeling for a pulse. It was faint, but there. Picking up his end of the travois again, Jack looked down at the hill once more.

"How ya doing there, Carter? You better hang in there if I'm gonna have to get all up-close-and-personal with a chiropractor when we get home. Ya know, I'm getting too old for this."

Jack started down the road as quickly as he could, knowing the faster he got down to the plain, the sooner he could get Carter to the gate and back home. *Thank God I don't have to go up!* he thought, as he barely avoided stumbling on the path.

The rain was definitely slowing and Jack saw it as the first break he'd had since he'd come to Yolaris. "Would you look at that, Carter? It's gonna stop raining yet!" Sam didn't even utter a moan as he jostled her down the hillside.

Off in the distance he saw two figures running towards him. Shit! What was he going to do now? There was no place to hide on this road! There were rocks and grassy knolls, but nothing large enough to offer them any protection.

All he could do was set Sam down and stand over her, prepared to shoot at the first sign of aggression. Jack stared at the advancing figures. There was something familiar about that stride-both those strides.

"Teal'c?" he called.

"It is I, O'Neill," Teal'c answered as he ran faster towards him.

"What the hell are you doing here? Daniel! Jesus Christ, I've never been so happy to see you guys in my life!"

Daniel was panting when he reached Jack and Teal'c, but managed a smile. "You don't look so hot," he breathed.

Jack looked down at his BDUs, which were stained with Sam's blood. "It's Carter's. She's been hurt," he said, looking over at her.

"Oh, my God!" Daniel gasped as he crouched next to Sam, wiping the rain from her pale face. "You were right! How did it happen?"

Jack cringed as he once again saw the image of Sam standing and warning him before being tossed backwards like a rag doll. "Um, it was pretty much the way I saw it in my vision," he mumbled. "We'll discuss it later. She's hurt pretty bad. Teal'c? Daniel? Think you can take over for a bit?"

Without another word, Teal'c and Daniel each lifted one end of the travois, carrying it like a stretcher. "We should move as quickly as possible, as SamanthaCarter appears to be in dire need of medical attention."

Jack watched with envy as the two men whisked her away. If only he'd been able to move as fast with her.

"Jack! Come on!" Daniel called over his shoulder.

"I didn't come this way," Jack commented as he ran to catch up with the others. "How much longer until we get to the 'gate?" asked Jack once they reached the bottom of the cliff.

"It is still quite some distance," Teal'c said as he and Daniel stopped.

"Wouldn't it be easier if we each took a side and carried her?" Daniel asked. "It wouldn't be quite so rough a ride for her."

"That would only work if we had a fourth," Jack pointed out.

"I think you might get your wish," Daniel said, nodding ahead of them. "Looks like the cavalry is here."

Jack turned to look and saw what appeared to be several members of the SGC running toward them. "Coburn? Griff? What are you guys doing here? I thought your orders were to return with the captives!"

"We did, Colonel, but when none of SG-1 showed up, General Hammond dispatched us to come save your sorry butts!" Coburn was grinning, but the smile soon died when he saw the still form on the stretcher. "Major Carter? What happened?"

"She was on the losing end of an argument with a Jaffa," Jack tried to joke, but as his gaze met Coburn's, he could see the man had seen past his attempt at humor.

Griff moved to Sam's side, ready to check her out when Jack stopped him. "Sorry, Hank, but we don't have time for you to play doctor. We gotta get her back to the 'gate."

The major nodded, as he relieved Daniel of one corner of the stretcher. Jack took one of the ends from Teal'c and they started towards the 'gate again.

"Coburn, go ahead and get ready to dial it up when you see us," ordered Jack.

"Yes, sir, Colonel," he said, giving Sam a quick glance before he herded his people and the rest of SG-6 toward the 'gate.

"So, what happened?" grunted Griff as they double-timed it.

She was warning me about a Jaffa on the hill when another one tried to shoot her," Jack panted. "She got knocked back by the blast and caught some shrapnel in her shoulder, for one thing. Don't know how bad. She lost a lot of blood."

They'd been jogging for close to fifteen minutes when Daniel yelled, "I see it! We're almost there, guys!"

Jack looked up, never so relieved to see the huge ring. The clouds broke and a single shaft of sunlight illuminated the 'gate's surface, almost as if a deity was blessing their arrival.

"Well, that's symbolic," said Daniel.

"Let's hope it's the good sign we've been waiting for," Jack said as they were finally close enough for him to shout to Coburn, "Dial 'er up, Major!"

*********

Janet stood at the base of the ramp, pacing nervously. She knew it was going to be a bit of a wait until SG-1 made it back to the 'gate with their injured member, but it seemed to be taking an incredibly long time. Even with SG-2 and 6's help.

Walking over to the gurney she had waiting, Janet checked her emergency supplies, making sure she was ready should she have to resuscitate Sam before they made it to the infirmary. She wished she had more information on her patient's condition, but Major Coburn couldn't tell her much. Just that O'Neill told him she'd been concussed and hit with some debris. He mentioned from the looks of the colonel's clothing, Sam had lost a lot of blood. That was pretty vague, as far as she was concerned. She could understand Jack's need to get her back to the SGC as soon as possible, but it would have been helpful if someone could have sent along a preliminary diagnosis.

Just as she was about to organize her supplies for the fifth time, Janet heard the tech in the control room call out there was an incoming traveler, sending SG-1's signal.

"Thank God," Janet said under her breath, readying her team for Sam's arrival.

Jack and Teal'c came through the event horizon first, followed by Daniel and Major Griff, each supporting one side of the travois. Janet rushed up the ramp as the remainder of SG-2 and 6 followed.

"Anyone else hurt?" Janet called out as she reached Sam's side and got to work. No one answered. Not that she would have heard them once she saw the blood-soaked shirt wrapped around Sam's shoulder. Janet immediately quelled her emotions, issuing orders.

"It's not as bad as it looks, right, Doc?" Jack asked, his eyes so full of emotion, Janet felt her own feelings fighting to surface.

"I'll do my best, sir," she assured him with a small smile, squeezing his arm before once again snapping into medical mode. Checking the display on the portable defibrillator, Janet observed her patient wasn't doing well. Her breathing was shallow and her pulse faint. Sam suddenly arched up, eyes wide as she gasped before collapsing onto the gurney.

The wail from the portable unit sent the team into a blur of action. "We need to get her to the infirmary!" Janet called, waiting just long enough for a medical tech to slip a backboard under Sam before nimbly hopping onto the gurney. Straddling Sam, she started doing chest compressions as her team headed to the infirmary. From far off she heard Jack's voice, rising in panic, but she couldn't spare the time to answer him. They were going to have to move fast if she was going to save her best friend.

*********

Jack stood at the base of the ramp, wearing a stunned expression. She couldn't die now. Not after all they'd gone through getting her back to the SGC. He was shaken from his stupor as Daniel placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Janet's the best, Jack. She's going to be all right."

Jack turned to look his friend in the eye. He was nearly as pale as Sam, his blue eyes looking impossibly large. Pulling a smile from somewhere, Jack managed to console him. "You're right, Daniel. She's gonna be okay."

"Indeed," Teal'c added. "DoctorFraiser is a skilled physician and MajorCarter is a strong warrior. Together they will win this battle."

"What happened out there?" demanded Hammond. "I thought you said you had to go through to P9X-445 to *prevent* this from happening!"

Jack shuffled his feet, suddenly finding his boots very interesting. "Turns out it was a bit of a paradox, sir. I only saw the vision of Sa-Carter being hurt, not what caused it. As fate would have it, I was the cause."

"I'm not following you."

He looked up at his commanding officer and said, "It was me, sir. Carter was injured when she stood to warn me about a Jaffa on the ridge. When she did that, one of his buddies almost shot her. As it was, she was still hurt from being too close to the impact point of the staff blast."

Hammond's face first registered shock, then sympathy. "I'm sorry, son." He waited a moment then gently added, "We'll need to debrief."

"Sir? Could we put off the debriefing just a bit? I really want to get to the infirmary..."

"Colonel, there's nothing you can do."

"I know, General, but I'd just like to be there."

Hammond nodded his head in understanding. "Very well. I'll start with SG units 2, 3 and 6. You can fill me in later. Gentlemen," he said looking to Daniel and Teal'c. "I know you're just as concerned about Major Carter, but I'd like you to join in on the debriefing."

Daniel was about to protest when Jack gave an almost imperceptible nod toward the door, forestalling any arguments. "Of course, General," he said, handing his gun over to the weapons officer.

Jack was practically dancing in his impatience to leave the 'gate room. "General, permission to..."

"Go ahead, Colonel. Let us know if you hear anything."

Jack didn't waste another second before racing from the room. Looking down at his bloodstained clothes, he thought momentarily of cleaning up, but dismissed the idea. He had to find out what was happening with Sam.

*********

The infirmary was bustling with activity. Nurses, medics and orderlies treated the last of the injured refugees. Jack stopped a nurse as she passed him.

"What's happening with Major Carter?"

"I'm afraid I don't know, sir." The young woman looked at him, eyes wide as she glanced at his rank, growing even more nervous. "Dr. Fraiser had Dr. Warner called in, and I think I heard her saying something about the crash cart, but that's all I know. I'm new so I don't..."

"Well, you damn well better find out what's going on!" Jack yelled. He paced away from her, grabbing an orderly as he walked by. "Aren't you one of the guys that brought Carter up here?" he demanded.

"Uh, yes, sir, she's in surgery and..."

"How's she doing? Fraiser must have gotten her heart going again, right? I mean she's still in there!"

"Sir," the tall, dark-haired orderly said. "They're doing everything they can for her, now if you'll just wait outside..."

"Answer me!" Jack demanded, shrugging the orderly's hand from his arm.

"Last I heard Major Carter was holding her own. I don't know any of the details so it's pointless to threaten me. Sir."

Jack stepped back, running a hand through his hair. "You're right, airman. I'm sorry."

"I understand, sir. There are chairs in the hallway," he needlessly reminded Jack. "Could I maybe get you some coffee or something?"

Jack was beginning to feel increasingly embarrassed over his behavior. "Yeah, that would be great, thank you."

On his way out of the infirmary, he saw the nurse he'd shouted at earlier. She glanced in his direction before quickly looking away. He crossed the room and waited for her to finish up with her patient. "I'm sorry I yelled at you."

"It's all right, sir. I know how hard it is when a member of your team is hurt. I'll let you know as soon as there's any word," she assured him, guiding him to the door once more.

"The evacuees okay?" he asked, stalling.

"Yes, sir. More shaken up than anything. They're being assigned to temporary quarters."

"Oh. Thanks," Jack said, looking around, finding no other distractions to keep him in the medical facility. "I'll be outside if you hear..."

"Yes, sir," the nurse said with a smile.

Jack slowly made his way to the hallway, taking a seat on one of the hard plastic chairs. Resting his elbows on his knees, he buried his face in his hands. He had been so sure he would be able to save her. Instead he was the cause of her injuries.

Obviously as Sam's teammate and CO, he was concerned for her. That's all it was, right? What was it Ahzka had said? He had a great capacity for denial? Was he so upset because a subordinate had been shot or because it was *Sam* who had been injured? He and Sam had barely acknowledged the attraction between them, but that's all it was. Really. She was a beautiful woman. Of course he'd find her attractive. Add a brilliant mind, great sense of humor and she became even more alluring. Daniel found her attractive as well, that didn't mean *he* was in denial. He was just concerned for her. That's all it was.

Jack didn't realized how long he'd been musing on his feelings for Sam until Daniel touched his shoulder. "How are you holding up?" asked Daniel gently, concern evident in his eyes.

Jack sat up straighter before slouching again. "Just great. Carter on the other hand..."

"Any word?"

"No, nothing," Jack sighed. "Fraiser got her heart going again and Warner's giving her a hand. That's all I know."

Daniel merely nodded.

"GeneralHammond requests your presence," Teal'c said.

"You guys done with your debriefing already?" Jack asked.

Daniel looked over at Teal'c then back at Jack. "Already? Jack, it's been an hour and a half!"

"An hour and a half?" Jack asked, standing to look in the window of the infirmary. "It's been that long and I haven't heard anything yet?"

"Jack, you really need to go talk to Hammond," Daniel insisted. "We'll stay here, and I promise if there's any word we'll let you know immediately. The general's worried about her too."

Scrubbing a hand through his hair, Jack admitted, "I suppose I can't put it off any longer."

"Uh, Jack? You might want to clean up a little first..."

Looking down at his clothing, Jack noted the blood had dried to a brownish rust color. "Yeah, that would probably be a good idea." Hammond would understand his being tardy.

*********

Jack stood outside the general's office, hesitating. He did *not* want to have this conversation. He had successfully avoided giving a detailed report regarding the events leading to Sam's injury, but he knew he couldn't put it off any longer. Raising his hand, he knocked softly on the solid door.

"Come."

"General?" he asked, noticing the huge stack of paperwork sitting on Hammond's desk. "Uh, if this is a bad time I can just..."

"Have a seat, Jack. This isn't going anywhere in the near future," Hammond said as he waved his hand at the mass of papers. He smiled weakly. "You look a bit pale. Everything check out okay in the infirmary?"

"Uh, fine, sir," Jack lied, not wanting to admit he'd managed to evade his post mission physical by being a pain in the ass.

"I know you're concerned about Major Carter, as I am. I'll try to make this brief."

"Thank you, General."

"What can you tell me about your trip to the planet? Have you felt any additional effects?"

"Not that I've noticed, sir. To be blunt, the real heart of the matter is, or was Ahzka."

"The voice you've been hearing," Hammond reconfirmed.

"Not just a voice. Turns out he's been alive all this time. He's been a host to a Goa'uld named Sha'lor."

Hammond was stunned. "How long have you known?"

"Not until I got to the planet. Prior to going through the 'gate, and on the planet, all I heard was Ahzka's insistent voice in my head, guiding me to a cave where I found him. He told me how he'd learned to control Sha'lor for short periods, and at the time, he'd had control over him."

"You believed him?"

"Well, he didn't attack me and was obviously struggling with the Goa'uld. Yeah, I believed him. Turns out the first time I heard Ahzka it was really this Sha'lor, speaking in my head with his voice."

"Why the deception? From what you told me, Ahzka told you things about his people, their past, et cetera. Why would a Goa'uld want to tell you that?"

Jack twined his fingers in his lap. "My guess is that he was trying to gain my trust, trying to get me-us-to come back to the planet. Seems he had plans all along for using us for target practice. I don't think he expected us to succeed in our rescue."

"So, the entire time you've claimed to be communicating with Ahzka, you were actually in touch with a Goa'uld?"

"And Ahzka as well," he confirmed. "He knew what Sha'lor knew and vice versa."

"You're speaking in the past tense. I take it Sha'lor, and consequently Ahzka are now dead?"

"Yes, sir. He asked me to kill him. Ahzka, that is. I told him about the Tollan, but he said he'd been a prisoner long enough and he asked me to zat him. I did. Three times. Sha'lor had a sarcophagus to keep Ahzka alive, so I got it with the zat as well."

Hammond stood, pacing back and forth behind his desk. "Colonel, is there any chance our security has been breached because of Sha'lor's access to your thoughts?"

"I don't know if he passed the information on to any of his snaky buddies, but he must have known what I know about Earth, the SGC, everything," Jack said, remembering the vision Sha'lor had given him of Sam inviting him to his bedroom.

"We'll have to change the security and iris codes," Hammond said, as if making a mental note to get the ball rolling immediately.

"It would be a good idea, General. Like I said, I don't know if he had contact with any other snakeheads, but there's always the chance he traded the information for something he needed. Well, if that's all, General..."

"Take your seat, Jack. I still want to know what happened with you and Major Carter."

Jack eased himself back into the hard chair, hesitating until the general turned to look at him. "I kept having the vision of Carter getting shot, even after Ahzka and Sha'lor were gone, so I knew it was genuine."

"Not like what you experienced with Dr. Jackson?"

"I uhm, found out that was Ahzka flexing his control over me and Sha'lor. He gave me the vision of Daniel getting shot, basically to see if he could."

"Sounds as if Ahzka had a hidden agenda as well," Hammond commented.

"If you call wanting help getting rid of his roomie a hidden agenda, yeah, then I guess it was." Jack's tone was sharper than he'd intended. He'd only shared a body with a Goa'uld for a short period of time, but he knew what a struggle it had been to keep the parasite at bay. He couldn't imagine carrying on a fight like that for centuries. The general's look was reprimand enough. "Sorry, sir, I guess it's kind of a touchy subject with me."

"Understandable, son. Go on."

"Ahzka told me Sha'lor's forces had moved the prisoners to the city of Uhlkan, and the shot Carter was going to take would come from a hill overlooking the city. I had a place to start looking." His voice became quiet as he added the rest of his information. "What he didn't tell me was I was going to be the cause of her almost getting hit with a staff blast."

Jack took a deep breath before continuing. "Carter saw me moving amongst the buildings, trying to get to her. From her vantage point, she saw a Jaffa taking aim at me. She stood up to warn me, and when she did, another Jaffa shot at her." He was looking at the floor, unable to meet the general's gaze. "If I hadn't been there, she wouldn't have moved from her hiding place."

"Jack," Hammond said in a soft voice, "You don't necessarily know you were the cause of her getting hurt. Perhaps she saw you when she was moving to another location and would have been inured regardless. Maybe you'd be dead now without her warning."

"And I'm supposed to take comfort in that?" Jack exclaimed, jumping to his feet. "I'm the one who almost got her shot and I'm supposed to be relieved I'm alive? Forgive me for not being grateful!"

"All I'm saying is the situation could be worse," Hammond said, trying to placate him. "You could be dead as well."

"Yeah, well it's sounding better all the time. At least then I wouldn't have to deal with what my actions have done to Carter."

"You don't mean that, Colonel," Hammond said.

Jack thought for a moment then said, "Yeah, you're right. There was a time you would have been wrong though."

"Look, Jack, I know how it feels when someone under your command is injured. I feel it every time one of the teams come through that 'gate with wounded. It's especially hard when it's a friend." Hammond took his seat again, rubbing a hand across his face. "I have a few more questions, but they can wait. Go see how she's doing."

*********

Janet pulled the cotton cap from her hair as she stepped into the hallway. The three waiting men looked exhausted, and she wondered briefly how long it had been since any of them had gotten some rest. She knew better than to ask, knowing they hadn't left the waiting area since Sam had been brought to the infirmary. Jack had at least changed from his blood-soaked clothes, she noted.

"She's in recovery," she simply stated as three sets of eyes turned to her.

"She's okay?" Jack asked, instantly on his feet. Daniel and Teal'c stood up as well.

"As well as can be expected. She was in pretty bad shape."

Jack looked down at the floor, scuffling his feet. "She's gonna be okay, though, right?"

Janet placed a hand on his arm squeezing gently. "I think so. You know it's not your fault she was injured."

Jack looked up then, his gaze meeting hers. "You weren't there."

"Colonel, I'm sure Sam nearly being hit with a staff blast wasn't in your plans when you went to the planet. Which reminds me. Have you guys had your post-mission physicals?"

All three seemed to find the paint on the opposite wall very interesting suddenly. "I thought as much. Inside," she said, giving Jack a small push.

"Look, Janet, I'm sure you're tired. You sure you don't want to do this later?" Jack asked.

"Oh, thank you for the concern, Colonel, but I'm going to have one of my assistants take care of that for me. You know, as long as you were waiting, you could have had this done instead of having to wait again. I know how much you love MRIs."

"Come on, Doc! You can't be serious! How many more pictures of my head are you gonna take?"

"At least one for every time you go to that planet. Now move!"

"Janet," Daniel interrupted her. "How bad are Sam's injuries?"

"It wasn't good. Besides the debris tearing up her shoulder, she suffered a ruptured spleen and some other minor internal injuries. Somehow she managed to avoid injuring her neck or spine." Looking at Jack she said, "You took quite a risk moving her without immobilizing her first."

"It's not like I had much of a choice," Jack said, his tone defensive.

"I understand that, Colonel. I'm just saying she was fortunate. She also could have lost a lot more blood than she did."

Jack looked up in disbelief. "You've got to be kidding me! By the time we got back here, she had to have had hardly any left!"

"Well, I admit she's just about drained my supply of her blood type," Janet said with a weak smile. "If you hadn't taken the actions you did, it could have been much worse. But you know Sam. She's a fighter. She'll be fine." Janet wondered if she was trying to convince the men or herself. She didn't want to alarm them, but there had been a couple of times she'd thought they were going to lose her.

"Can we see her?" Daniel asked.

"She's still unconscious, but if you want to look in on her, I guess it's okay."

Daniel and Teal'c headed toward the recovery area, but Jack remained rooted to the spot.

"Colonel? Don't you want to see her?"

Jack looked up at Janet. "Yeah. Yeah, of course I do. I guess I just thought it would be better to let Danny and Teal'c have a moment with her first. Not overwhelm her, ya know."

Janet didn't believe him for a second. He was so busy reproaching himself he couldn't even face her while she was unconscious. "Colonel, she's asleep. I don't think she'll notice."

Sliding his hands into he pockets, he turned to Janet. "You're right. Guess I should go say hi, huh?"

Janet gave his arm another reassuring squeeze. "And don't forget about that exam."

"Yes, Mom," Jack said, managing a grin.

*Well, he still had his sense of humor,* Janet thought. *Maybe he isn't taking it as bad as I thought.*

*********

Jack cautiously approached Sam's inert form, as if he were afraid to wake her. Truth was, he'd give anything to see her eyes open. Janet had said it would be several hours before she woke, so he doubted he'd have to deliver his apologies just yet.

She was so pale! But at least she looked better than she had when they'd stepped through the 'gate. There was so much he wanted to say to her, especially after he'd had his little heart-to-heart with himself in the hallway. He was still having a hard time admitting it even to himself, but he knew he'd never voice his thoughts. Even now, with her asleep, he couldn't tell her how much she'd come to mean to him. Freya might have dragged a confession out of him and Sam, but he did his best to ignore how he felt about her. Most days he succeeded, but seeing her surrounded by monitors and IVs, it was damn near impossible to remain impassive. Especially since he was the one responsible. But he knew as long as he was her commanding officer, the actual confession would never come. That didn't stop him from hoping she'd read between the lines when he became a bit too personal with his flirting.

Janet came up behind him, distracting him from his thoughts. "Colonel? You all right?"

Jack lifted his gaze from Sam to look at her. "Yeah, why?"

"Oh, no reason except you don't look much better than she does," she said, nodding in Sam's direction.

"I'm a little tired, I guess," he confessed, knowing he had to give the doctor something before she added extra tests to his physical.

"Then lets get that exam finished up so you can get some rest," she said, neatly boxing him into a corner.

"They teach you that at med school or is it just one of your specialties?"

"What's that?"

"Twisting whatever a patient says into an admission they need to be checked out."

Janet smiled and looked away momentarily. "No, that one's all mine. And believe it or not, it works the best on you. Of course, that might be because you give me the most grief about being examined." She was still smiling, which Jack took as a good sign.

"Okay, Doc. I'll cut you some slack. Where do you want me?"

"Bed three. Julie will check your vitals. Don't forget the MRI."

Jack sighed. "Yeah, all right."

Janet started to leave, but turned at the last minute. "And Colonel? Don't try to get out of it. Dr. Peterson is expecting you."

He glanced at her sheepishly. "Sure, Doc, but only if you take your own advice and get some rest."

*********

Jack tried to sleep. He really felt he'd given it his best shot, but he couldn't seem to block the memories of the mission from his mind long enough to do more than doze. Maybe he should go to the infirmary and get something to help him rest. And if he happened to check on Sam's recovery in the process, Janet couldn't really fault him, could she?

The corridors were deserted at this time of the morning. It seemed rather odd to Jack since SG teams returned and embarked at all hours of the day. When it was this quiet, he could hear the low, background hum of the facility that was usually masked when personnel were present. It almost made the base itself seem alive.

Entering the infirmary, Jack saw Janet sitting by Sam's bed. He wasn't surprised. He knew how hard it was for him to see her injured. It had to be just as difficult for her friend.

Janet sat slumped in the chair, having drifted off. Jack hesitated waking her, but she was going to have one hell of a crick in her neck from sleeping at that angle.

"Janet," he whispered, giving her shoulder a gentle shake.

"Huh? What? Something happen?" Janet blinked huge, disoriented eyes, focusing on Jack a moment later. "Didn't I tell you to get some sleep, Colonel?"

"I could say the same," he said, grinning as he pulled up a chair to join her. "Any change?"

Janet stretched, trying to conceal a yawn. "No, and that's what worries me. She should have woken by now. At least for a few minutes." She stood and checked the level of blood left in bag hanging on Sam's IV stand. "She shouldn't need this much."

"Which means?"

"Which means I must have missed something. She's showing symptoms of bleeding internally. I must have missed something, but I don't know what. She's so weak, I don't know if she'd make it through another surgery."

"Come on, Doc. You can give it to me straight. No need to sugarcoat it."

Janet turned to look at Jack, obviously finding very little humor in his sarcasm at the moment. "Oh, it gets better. Sam is AB negative."

Jack looked at her, waiting for her to elaborate. When she didn't, he prompted her. "Ya, so?"

"So AB negative is the rarest blood type there is. Only one percent of the population has it. And our supply is just about gone."

"So we get more."

"Colonel," Janet laughed. "It's not like we can run out to the Seven-Eleven for a couple pints when we get low. The Academy Hospital might not have any. I didn't realize how much we'd gone through. If I have to operate again, I'm going to need more blood."

"Any thing I can do?"

"Well, I wish you were a compatible blood type, but since you aren't maybe you could help me by calling the Academy Hospital and finding out if they have any, and then checking the records of the base personnel to see if anyone is AB negative. If we don't find anyone here, I guess we're going to have to start looking elsewhere."

*********

Jack's search wasn't proving terribly effective. Looking up when Janet entered the small office, he asked, "How's she doing?"

"Not good. She's working on the last of the AB negative we have."

"Janet? You okay?" he asked, coming to stand behind her.

Hastily, Janet wiped at her eyes, turning to give him a weak smile. "Fine."

She didn't look fine, Jack noted. In fact, she looked about as haggard as he'd ever seen her. "C'mere," he said, pulling her into a hug. "We'll find the blood. She's gonna be all right." Janet merely nodded against his chest. "You're our miracle worker, Doc." She laughed at that. "What? Ya don't believe me?" he teased. "I've lost count the number of times you've come up with cures for alien viruses. Patched up people we never thought would make it. This is no different. You'll find a way."

Janet pulled away from him, wiping her tired eyes once more. "If you really believe that, I don't want to see you moping around here either."

"Deal," he said, taking his seat again. Just then he looked back up at her. "Janet?"

"Yeah?"

"Did you have trouble with that thingy below her lungs?" Jack asked, rubbing his hand across his torso.

Janet looked down at him, crossing her arms across her chest. "You mean her diaphragm? Yes, I did. There were several lacerations. How did you know?"

"Funny thing about those visions. They just come out of nowhere," he said with a grin. Turning serious, he added, "I think you missed one. Underneath. It's probably hidden."

Janet's eyes widened. "You keep working on finding donors! I've got to prep her for surgery!" Running from her office, she stopped and turned back to Jack. "Colonel, I think you may have just saved her life!"

Jack watched as Janet fled the room. "Least I could do since I'm the one that got her here in the first place."

*********

Daniel woke to an insistent pounding on the door to his quarters.

"Daniel! Get up! I need your help!"

"Jack? What's wrong?" he asked before he had the door open all the way. He took in Jack's rather disheveled appearance as he paced outside the room.

"Sort of. Get dressed," Jack said. "I need your help."

Daniel looked over at his clock. "My help at three in the morning?"

"Is it that late already?" Jack asked.

"Jack! What's wrong? Has something happened to Sam?"

"Sort of, get dressed. I'll explain it on the way to the infirmary."

Daniel shut his door in a huff. *God I hate it when Jack does this! Must have something to do with his military training and all that need to know bullshit. Well I need to know!* He'd never dressed so fast in his life.

"If you can get ready so quick, why are you always the last one in the locker room when we're supposed to go on a mission?"

"More incentive," Daniel said with a small smile. "Now, you tell me what's going on or I'm not taking another step."

Jack took him by the elbow and propelled him down the hall. "Sam still hasn't woken and she's been going through blood like a vampire with an eating disorder. Janet's been worried, and to make matters worse, Sam's got a rare blood type-AB negative."

"Okaaaay," said Daniel. "I understand Janet's concern because Sam's still unconscious and she's going through a lot of blood, but what's her type got to do with it?"

"Apparently Sam's on the last of the base's supplies, which is where you come in."

"But I'm B positive, I can't help."

"I need your help tracking down some other sources," Jack clarified. "I think I know what's wrong with Sam. Janet has to operate again, but she can't without an ample supply of blood."

"*You* know what's wrong with her?"

"I had another vision, okay?" Jack's face showed his embarrassment just before he turned away.

Daniel pushed his glasses up. "I don't mean to sound skeptical, but your track record with visions hasn't exactly been the best."

"So I had a couple of misfires," Jack admitted. "I know she's got a hole in her diaphragm. That's why she's going through so much blood."

Daniel shrugged his shoulders. "Maybe you're right, Jack. Sounds like Janet believes you, and I guess that's what's important."

*********

Jack was really getting tired of having to explain himself to his friends. Was it so hard for them to believe he might know what was wrong with Sam? It wasn't like he was claiming he could *do* the surgery. All he did was give Janet a place to start looking.

Entering the infirmary, Jack saw Teal'c sitting in Janet's office. "Couldn't sleep?"

"My need for rest has been satisfied. When I came to check on SamanthaCarter, I was told to wait here, that you would need my assistance."

"The more the merrier," Jack said taking a seat before he launched into his explanation again for Teal'c's benefit. "I found a Lieutenant Carstairs in the files. Her blood type matches Carter's. Teal'c, I'd like you to find her, explain the situation and see if she'd be willing to donate some blood. If she agrees, we can only count on her for a pint, but it's a start. Daniel and I are gonna start calling hospitals and blood banks and see what we can round up, okay?"

Teal'c inclined his head then asked Jack, "Where shall I begin my search, O'Neill?"

"Carstairs works up on nineteen in one of the labs. I know it's early, but you know those scientists," he said, casting a look in Daniel's direction. "They're up at all hours of the night."

"Where's Janet?" Daniel asked.

"She's with Sam, getting her ready for surgery."

"And if we come up empty handed?"

"We won't," Jack said, speaking with conviction.

Daniel nodded. "Where do we start?"

Jack tossed him a Colorado Springs phone book. "You start with the blood banks, I'm going to try the hospitals."

*********

Waiting. They were all back to waiting, sitting on the hard chairs outside the infirmary, surrounded by a sea of empty Styrofoam coffee cups.

"How can this be taking so long?" Jack asked as he stood to pace once more, jostling Daniel from his nap.

"What time is it?" Daniel asked, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

"Almost 0700. That makes it close to three hours Janet's been working on her. I hope Doc's holding up. She was tired before she started."

"Yeah, I don't know how she does it," Daniel agreed. "Janet always seems to pull a reserve of energy from somewhere."

Jack made one more loop, pacing from the end of the hallway and back before he announced, "I'm going for more coffee. Anybody else want some?"

Teal'c and Daniel shook their heads. "I'm about ready to float away as it is," Daniel said, his voice muffled as he yawned.

Taking his time, Jack wandered down the hallway to the coffee machine. The stuff was disgusting, but it was the revolting qualities that kept him awake. Coming around the corner, Jack nearly ran into Lieutenant Carstairs.

"Sir! Excuse me! I was just coming to see how Major Carter was doing. Is there any word?"

"Not yet, but we hope to hear something soon. I want to thank you again for all you've done, Lieutenant. You probably helped save her life."

The short redhead blushed. "It was the least I could do, sir. I've only met Major Carter briefly, but I know she'd do the same for me if the situation was reversed."

Jack smiled at her. "Well, let's hope we don't have to find out."

"Keep me posted, sir?"

"As soon as we know anything, we'll let you know," Jack assured her.

Dropping coins into the coffee machine, Jack thought about how fortunate they'd been to zero in on supplies of AB negative blood. Well, he'd hit pay dirt immediately, anyway. Daniel had had to do a little more digging. After all the grief he'd been getting about his abilities, Jack hadn't even considered telling Daniel how he'd found available supplies outside the base so quickly. If only he could have sorted through the files as fast. Perhaps Janet was right-he'd been trying too hard to think with his conscious mind. Once his brain was on autopilot, the information was suddenly just there.

Jack took a sip of the bitter, lukewarm liquid, as he headed back to his pacing in front of the infirmary. Between Daniel, and now Sam, he was wondering why he even bothered to keep his house.

Arriving at his destination, Jack noticed General Hammond had joined the group. "General," he said, nodding to him.

"Dr. Jackson tells me she's been in there again for over three hours," Hammond said, nodding to his subordinate.

"Yeah. She must be hemorrhaging worse than Janet thought."

"I also hear you're the one who told Dr. Fraiser what was wrong with her."

Jack shrugged his shoulders. "Lucky guess." He knew his commanding officer was having just as much trouble believing his explanations as his teammates were, when he smiled indulgently.

"How are you holding up, son?"

Jack shoved his free hand into the pocket of his rumpled pants. "Well, General, you know me. I'm always pretty laid back when it comes to these types of situations."

Hammond chuckled despite the serious nature of their gathering. "At least you haven't lost your sense of humor."

"Never, sir."

Taking a sip of his now cold coffee, Jack noticed Janet heading to the outside doors of the infirmary. He opened the door for her and gestured her through as she acknowledged him with a small smile of thanks. The rest of the men in the hallway stood as she approached.

"Dr. Fraiser?" Hammond asked.

She gave them all a tired smile. "I think we got it this time." There was an audible sigh of relief as all four men exhaled. "The surgery actually went quite smoothly, once I knew what I was looking for. Thank you, Colonel," she said, patting him on the back.

"So, she's going to be okay?" Daniel asked.

"I feel better about her chances than I did last night," Janet said. "The reason it took so long is because I wanted to wait to close her up. Make sure we'd caught everything this time."

"And everything looks good, Doctor?" Hammond asked.

"From what I can tell, yes, sir. She's going to be looking at a stretch of physical therapy for her shoulder, though."

"Good work, Doctor. Now, you look like you could use some sleep." Hammond glanced at Jack and Daniel. "You two as well." They all started to protest, but Hammond put his hand up to stop them. "I know your authority supersedes mine in medical matters, Doctor, but for once I'm going to order *you* to get some rest. The same goes for the rest of you."

"But, sir, I should..."

"Not another word, Doctor. If you can't trust your staff to look after a sleeping patient, perhaps we need to have a discussion about the reassignment of personnel."

Janet was about to argue, but knew when she was defeated. "Yes, sir."

"Colonel? What are you and Dr. Jackson still doing here?"

Jack tossed his unfinished coffee into a garbage can and started collecting the rest of the cups. "Just cleaning up, sir."

Dumping the last of the trash in the bin, Jack hurried to catch up with Daniel and Janet. "Jeez, and I thought you were a hard-ass, Doc!"

*********

Jack sat in his office, doing his best to obey Janet's order to stay away from the infirmary. The more he tried to keep out from underfoot, the more he seemed to get in the way. Janet had finally told him flat out to leave or she'd have him removed.

So, here he was, staring at report forms on his desk. Jack knew he should get a jump on the paperwork. This was going to be a messy one with Sam's injury, and he was tired of reliving her accident. On the other hand, the sooner he had an account on the general's desk, the sooner Hammond would stop questioning him about what had happened.

Rubbing his forehead, Jack picked up his pen and started filling out the first form. He'd just gotten through the list of personnel included on the mission when he saw a flash of Sam waking up. Smiling to himself, he put his pen on the desk and stared at the phone. Seconds later it rang.

"Hello, Janet," he said, wishing he could see the look on her face.

She sputtered for a moment then said, "Well, I guess it wasn't necessary to call you after all. You can visit whenever you'd like."

Jack didn't even bother to say good-bye before he hung up the phone.

*********

Skidding to a halt outside the infirmary's doors, Jack spotted Janet waiting with her arms crossed.

"I think that has to be a new base record," she said, barely able to contain her smile.

"How's she doing?"

"Well, her vitals look good, and she's got a bit of color again. I think she's going to be all right," Janet said, this time allowing her smile to blossom. "She's a little groggy, so if she doesn't make a lot of sense, don't worry."

Jack nodded as he followed Janet into a curtained area. He looked on as she checked the monitors and IV once more.

"Sam, there's someone here to see you."

Sam's eyes fluttered open. She blinked several times before she was able to focus. "Colonel?" she rasped.

"How ya doin', Carter?"

"Fine, sir. When do we head out?"

Jack smiled at her joke, squeezing her hand. "Good to see you awake," he said, his voice thick with emotion.

Clearing her own throat, Janet excused herself. "I'm going to give the general, Daniel and Teal'c a call. They were second only to you in their bid to drive me crazy this morning."

He was grateful for the bit of privacy she was offering them. "Thanks, Doc."

She nodded, before pulling the curtains closed behind her.

Jack paced for a moment, not quite sure where to begin. "You gave me-us-one hell of a scare, Carter. Don't you be making a habit of it."

"No, sir." Her voice was still scratchy, as if each word was forced. "Could I have a drink, please?"

Jack picked up the blue plastic cup, angling the straw to her mouth. "Just a sip. I don't know if Doc wants you drinking anything yet." Before Sam could disobey him, Jack pulled the cup back, replacing it on the table. "Better?"

"Yeah, thanks."

There was an awkward silence as Jack debated what to say next. He was about to speak when Sam took the lead.

"You saved my life, Jack." He looked up at her use of his name. Did she know she'd done that? "I know you were the one who told Janet what was wrong with me."

"She told you that already? I wouldn't have thought it would be her first topic of conversation."

"She didn't tell me," Sam said pointedly.

Jack's gaze met hers. "What are you trying to say?"

"I was unconscious on Yolaris, too."

It took a second for the information to register. "So, you're saying..."

"Somehow I just knew it was you. I think I understand now what you were-are-going through. It must be worse for you, having been exposed more times than I've been."

"Well, I don't know if worse is the correct term. It's been... interesting, I'll grant you that." Another silence stretched between them. He was looking everywhere but at her. Jack put his hands into his pockets as he paced at the end of her bed.

"Sir?"

"Damn it, Carter!" he exploded. "How can you lie there and thank me for saving your life when I'm the one who put you in that situation in the first place?"

"I don't know what you mean," she said, genuinely confused.

"Whaddya mean ya don't know what I mean? If you hadn't stood up to warn me about that Jaffa, the other guy wouldn't have seen you!"

"I didn't get up to warn you. I didn't even know you were there until I was moving to a better position. That's when I saw you." Sam stopped for a moment to catch her breath.

Jack knew Janet was going to have his head for tiring her out. This conversation should have waited, but before Jack could end it, she began again.

"It was more dumb luck than anything. As for the one that shot at me, he probably would have gotten me. If you hadn't been there, I *would* be dead. You're the one who saved me, not the other way around."

Sam was drained, and it was his fault. "I'm sorry I yelled at you, Carter, it's just that..."

"I know, sir," she said, closing her eyes for a moment before opening them again. "But I want you to believe me when I tell you it wasn't your fault."

Jack stared at her and for an instant he felt something. Something he could never put into words, as there were no words that could ever describe the sensation. It was a moment of shared knowledge, a flash of perfect clarity, and he felt his guilt melt away. But it was more. All he wanted to express to her, all he wanted her to know was shared with her as well. And in the blink of an eye, it was gone.

"Whoa. What was that?" Sam asked, eyes wide.

"I'm not sure. Ahzka told me his people had the ability to Share, but he said I wasn't strong enough to do it. I wouldn't think you would be either."

"Well, whatever it was, it was incredible," Sam said, seeming more alert than she'd been a minute ago. Jack was distracted, trying to sort through the mixture of images flashing through his mind. "It was... something," he agreed.

"Sir? Do you mean it?"

Jack felt his face flush. He contemplated denying what she was talking about, but he knew she'd see through his dense act. And it wasn't just because of her time on Yolaris. "Well," he said, toying with the chart hanging on the end of her bed. "Ahzka said the good thing about Sharing was that you couldn't lie." He looked up then, meeting her gaze. Now it was Sam who was blushing and looking away.

For the third time, a silence fell between them, awkward only in the sense that neither knew what words they could add to what they'd just experienced.

Jack cleared his throat and waved toward the curtain. "I should probably let you get some rest. Daniel, Teal'c and Hammond will probably be here at any minute. Oh, and we got in touch with your dad. He should arrive sometime today, too."

Sam was toying with the edge of her blanket, still looking flustered. "Thank you, sir."

Jack turned to leave, then, hesitating a moment, he looked back at her, giving her a sly grin. "Any time, Carter. Oh, and by the way, I guess I should be thanking *you.*"

"Sir?"

"I'm flattered. I mean, I never expected to come out on the winning end of a comparison between myself and that guy who played MacGyver."

Sam managed to turn an even darker shade of red. "Well, he is a little better looking than you, sir, but you got extra points for personality."

Jack chuckled and looked at the floor, still feeling a bit shy at all they'd revealed in that one moment of understanding.

Sam tried to ease the tension. "If it's any consolation, I think the effects of the planet will fade in a day or two."

Jack smiled, eyes still focused at his feet, looking almost bashful. "Good thing we said all we needed to, huh?" He chanced a glance at Sam who seemed equally unsettled.

"Yes, sir."

As he gazed into her eyes, he felt another weight lifted. No need to worry about that confession after all.

The End

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