Disclaimer: The characters portrayed within this story belong to the guys that own the Rights to Stargate SG1 so MGM, Gekko and unfortunately obvioues SciFi too...but I have a friend making beautiful SG1-clones and sometimes I let them out to explore our universe! Those aformentioned characters inspire a lot of people watching and adoring Stargate SG1 so be indulgent. Many thanks to Gekko and MGM, Daniel Jackson, Jack O'Neill, Sam Carter and Teal'c plus their respective actors doing such a great performance!!
But I am tempted to cast an evil spell on SciFi.

Summary: see author's notes. Tag to "The Shroud".

Timeline: season 10

spoilers: The Shroud, s 10

Rating:Some Danny-whumping involved, of cos, angst, language, violence too, but nothing too serious so far

Size:

Author's Notes: Okay - Deep Breath - Here goes. This is the first story that I've written that I've actually put up for public humiliation Wink (CP&UP being a collaboration with Em, and on temporary hold till she's back in action, and just a bit of fun.)

I apprectiate that This may be every one's cup of tea. It focuses very much so on Jack and Daniel, I just so love their friendship. But don't worry guys, the rest of our heroes aren't wallpapered.

It takes place after the events of The Shroud, and is kind of AU in that I ignore the events of the episodes that came after. I wanted to write something that had them all having to deal with the consequences of Daniel's and Merlins actions, Daniel dealing with his own feelings regarding them, and what it leads them and the team into in their efforts to prevent to Ori invasion.

Where I refer to what transpired bewteen the time that he was captured by Adria and being De-Priorized, it is all a lot darker than what we got on-screen. Nothing gratuitous or graphic though.

I hope you enjoy, I'm open to advice and critism, but please remember, as I rule I write for my own pleasure, and I'm extremely nervous about posting this. Oh, and BTW, it hasn't been beta'd, so please don't hesitate to pick me up on typos, bad grammar, etc. And please, it is fiction, so my somewhat strange imagination is at work here

# Novel: Consequences Part 3 #

by Delta666

A couple of hours passed by, during this time a storm had brewed up. Sam told them it would hamper the sensors on the UAV. They all tensed when Landry’s next transmission came.

“The UAV’s in the air and were picking up Dr Jackson’s signal, I’m sending the coordinates through now. You’re closer then SG-3, and to be honest, I’d rather it was you who found him.”

Sam had her laptop fired up already and nodded to Cam when the requisite information was safely received.

“Okay Sir, we’ve got it, we’ll go find him and bring him on home.” He ended the transmission and looked at Sam.

“Okay, I’ve input the coordinates in to the GPS, just recalibrating it as we speak. According to the data it looks as if he’s stationary for the moment. Probably lying low as you suggested.”

“Okay, let’s go get our boy.” Cam said sounding relieved, although, this was only the start. He was not looking forward to the de-brief when they got back.

It took them quite a while to find the cave; the weather having hadn’t exactly helped. Teal’c stationed himself at the entrance while the others went in after having called Daniel’s name several times and received no response.

“Wait, I see something.” Vala announced as the light from her torch glinted on something shiny. She crouched down and picked something up and held it out for the others to see.

“Oh.” Sam breathed, shocked and saddened as she realized it was Daniel’s glasses, broken, and looking forlorn, in a sad kind of way.

“What do you suppose – JACKSON!” Cam called out but they already realized that Daniel was not in the cave. Sam cast her torch around and caught something else in the beam.

“It’s his backpack, and…oh Daniel…..” She sighed unhappily. “He’s got nothing with him except the clothes on his back.” She told them. They all merged their beams and saw not only his backpack, but his MP-5, his handgun, knife and even his zat. Vala picked up the knife.

“There’s blood on the blade.” She swallowed and tried not to think the worst. “Not much though.” She added trying to sound optimistic. Sam peered at the blood and caught her breath. There was one explanation that immediately sprang to mind.She blinked back a lone tear.

“You’re right Cameron, he is a tricky SOB, he’s removed his locater chip. The idiot, now how the hell are we going to find him, what if he gets in to trouble or hurt?” Worry made her angry and she sounded a lot harsher than she intended.

Vala picked up the tiny blood covered chip from the hollow in the rock where he’d apparently placed it. She had to admire his resourcefulness, they were buried quite deep and high up in the shoulder, it couldn’t have been easy digging it out.

“Well, I hope he had the sense to dress the wound, and take some anti-biotics, or it’ll get infected for sure.” Sam railed. She was frustrated, angry, worried and it was all getting on top of her. She was also furious at herself for assuming, like every one else, that Daniel would just bounce back from his latest mis-adventure like he always had before. Bottom line was, they had all been in total denial. Refusing to believe that their Daniel might never be the same again.

Vala gathered up Daniel’s stuff and they rejoined Teal’c at the cave entrance and told him what they’d found. Cam then radio’ed the guys at the gate and got them to open up a wormhole, after having made them double check that Daniel wasn’t in the area. He held out no hope that Daniel would head for the ‘gate, he was convinced now that it was the city he was aiming for, this cave was closer to that side of the forest.

“Find him.” Landry told Cam firmly. “Find him and bring him back. But, I wouldn’t like to be in his shoes. I’ve already had the IOA on the ‘phone asking why two extra teams and a UAV have been deployed, and why General O’Neill is currently en-route to the SGC. I’ve stalled them for now, but.,….they want answers, and they already suspect it has something to do with Dr Jackson. Hell, if a dormant volcano erupted right now in the Pegasus Galaxy, they’d blame him, they’re just itching for the opportunity to have him locked up in the security wing are Area51.

The present four fifths of SG-1 looked miserable and shocked. It had escalated from Daniel being retained in the infirmary and having to undergo some therapy, to him now being considered a galactic security risk and being threatened with having to spend his remaining days as some sort of psychiatric prisoner.

“Okay people, you heard the General. We’ve not only got find Daniel, but somehow get him to convince TPTB that he’s not cuckoo and not our enemy. Which of course we know he’s not.” Cam announced as the transmission ended. He needed to snap Sam and Vala out of their moods and get them focused on the job at hand. They had no choice, they had to find Daniel and take him back, the alternative was that they all became intergalactic fugitives and spend the rest of their lives on the run, over-dramatic though it sounded, it was a fact.

“How long till it’s light?” Cam enquired.

“About three more hours, that’s one advantage of shorter days I guess, shorter nights too.” Sam announced, but the weather was going to hamper them severely.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Daniel waited at the edge of the forest. He squinted at the open area between the forest and the river, and cursed himself for having dropped his glasses in the dark after the bulb had blown in his torch, and to add insult to injury, trodden on them. At least the bulb hadn’t gone while he’d been in the process of cutting out the locater chip. One slip and he’d have done a lot more damage than he’d actually done as it was. He’d had to use his field knife which was way to big for such a task, and it had been very awkward trying to do it one-handed AND keeping the torch light on it He’d managed to wrap a bandage around it the resulting wound, and he thought it might have stooped bleeding now. As the grey light of dawn began to appear the thunderstorm was still in full swing, in fact, if anything, it seemed worse. The sky was leaden and looked full of rain and he could hear thunder rumbling in the distance. He’d been so glad that he’d removed the chip when he’d heard the familiar buzz of the UAV a couple of hours ago. As far as he was concerned, there was no going back now. He would either be penalized and kicked out of the SGC, or, more likely taken by that weasel Woolsey and his cronies and locked away at Area51 where no doubt they’d spend a jolly few months interrogating and exposing him to every test they could devise, and, when they finally grew bored of that, lock him away and conveniently forget about him. No more than he deserved of course, he thought ruefully, but, he had to do this one last thing before his time as a member of the SGC ended one way or another.

All through the night, his conviction that something that would help defeat the Ori once and for all was to be found on Ylaaria had kept growing, until now he was certain beyond all doubt. He suspected that finding it and handing it over to his friends was going to be his last act before he left this plane of existence for good this time. He wasn’t seeking redemption, however, he accepted that, all he wanted to do was ensure the safety of those he was leaving behind.

The storm seemed like it was heaven sent, or whoever happened to be in his side at the time, it was massive and would play havoc with the instruments that no doubt Sam and the SGC would be deploying, and hamper visibility making it harder for them to detect him visually. Even now great rafts of sheet lightening was filling the sky and the thunder was growing louder, soon the skies would open again he suspected another downpour of monsoon proportions was imminent. He almost smiled to himself as he decided that loosing his glasses didn’t really matter, they’d be worse than useless in the rain anyway. He wrapped a relatively dry bandanna around his head and felt the first heavy drops as they descended from the sky. As the downpour worsened he began his trek across the open space to the river.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Shouldn’t we wait it out?” Vala suggested as they waited by the mouth of the cave. They could barely see the nearest tree so heavy was the rain, constant lightening and thunder completed the mood, as they decided on the best course of action.

“Maybe we should head back to Malkon and wait it out there.” Sam suggested, but no sooner has she uttered the last word a large tree crashed to the ground almost blocking the cave.

“I think we’d better go with Vala’s suggestion and stay here till it blows over. I doubt very much that Daniel will be going very far in this lot either.” They moved back in to the shelter of the cave feeling frustrated and worried. Teal’c magicked some dry kindling apparently out of nowhere and started a small fire and Vala dug out the MRE’s. When they were ready, and Cam had made sure that the guys at the gate were okay they settled down to wait until it was safe to proceed. Teal’c and Sam were grabbing an hour or so of sleep, while Cam and Vala sat staring in to the tiny fire.

“You’re really worried about Daniel. Aren’t you?” Vala said in to the silence. Cam stared at her. “Only, I’ve noticed that you’ve been calling him – Daniel – as opposed to Jackson, and they only other time I’ve heard you do that was when we were in Merlin’s cave.”

“Yeah, well, guess you got me there. Sure I am, I mean, come on, look what he went through, not for himself mind, but for just about everyone in this galaxy, and, don’t forget, I’ve read every single one of their mission reports. This isn’t a one off.”

Vala poked the embers with a stick and gazed at the resulting sparks.

“What are we going to do when we find him, I mean, should we really take him back so they can lock him away, because, that’s what they’re going to do, there’s no point pretending otherwise.”

“I don’t know Vala, we’ll just have to cross that bridge when we come to it. Maybe we’re all getting worked up about nothing, maybe he just needed a bit more time, maybe this is all just a great big storm in a teacup.”

Vala couldn’t help smile at his attempt to cheer her up, and the irony given the weather. But she couldn’t make the cold feeling of dread in her stomach go away.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“ColonelMitchell, it has been five hours and the storm appears to be abating.” Teal’c shook Cam awake, he unwound himself from Vala, who somehow had managed to wrap herself around him during their spell of sleep. Sam was grinning at him.

“What?” He said as Vala sat up rubbing her eyes, she looked a little bemused for a moment and then caught on.

“Sorry Cameron, I err….can’t help sunggling..” She favoured him with a wicked smile. “Besides it was cold.” She leapt to her feet. “Okay, I take it we can go and find Daniel now.” She said over-brightly, and started to gather her stuff together.

Sam and Teal’c exchanged glances. Cam was immediately wary, and Vala sensed that she didn’t like what she was about to hear.

“We’ve got until nightfall tonight, that’s in approximately six hours, then we’ve got to report back to the SGC, if we haven’t found Daniel by then, the IOA will be taking over the search for him.”

“No, they can’t, how could General Landry let that happen.” Vala exclaimed, distraught at what that implied.

“Apparently the decision was made from higher up. Woolsey somehow got wind of this and went whining to the President, no doubt he exaggerated greatly what Daniel did to him when…anyway, bottom line, Daniel is being regarded as a threat the security of Earth. According to Landry, it was General O’Neill who managed to get us the extra six hours, we were supposed to have been recalled immediately.”

“Well, that’s simple then. I resign or whatever the procedure is, there, as of this moment, I am no longer a member of the SGC, and, as I’m not from your planet, no one, not even your President can tell me what to do.” Vala flicked her long black hair as if to add emphasis to the depth of her feelings. She’d let felt that she’d let Daniel down once, there was no way she was going to do it again. If it meant they had to live as fugitives, then so be it, it wasn’t like she hadn’t had any practice at that, but there was no way she was doubting his actions this time. Whatever his reasons for doing what he was doing, she was certain he had everyone’s best interests at heart, it was just not him to be any other way.

“Vala, hold up. It may not have to come to that. The city’s only a couple of hours walk from here, Daniel would have been held up the same as we were, there was no way he’d have carried on in that storm. We’ll find him and get this mess sorted out.” As he spoke he’d placed his hands on Vala’s shoulders and was fixing her with a firm gaze. The last thing Daniel needed was for her going off all gung-ho.

“Cameron’s right Vala. It won’t be long, we’ll find him, I promise.” Sam was sounded like she was trying not to cry, Vala looked so desolate behind her anger. Despite her flighty outward behavior, this strange, fiery, fiercely intelligent woman really did love Daniel. And, in some kind of weird way, seemed so – right for him.

“ValaMalDuran does have a point though.” Teal’c said. “I am in a similar position to her, if it comes to a choice between permitting DanielJackson to fall in to the hands of the IOA or severe my connections with the SGC, then I too will take the latter option.”

“That’s the kind of thing that Daniel needs to hear for himself.” Cam said thoughtfully. “He needs to know that we are on his side, always have been, no matter what.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Daniel was soaked to the skin and freezing cold, but he plodded on resolutely. He was almost at the bridge now. The storm was still raging over-head, and the rains if anything seemed worse. Under all the other noise he could hear something else. The calm peaceful river that they’d seen only yesterday was now a raging torrent, it was actually flowing over the bridge. But, he had to get across. Gingerly he stepped one foot in to the rapids, he felt the force of the water tugging at him, so he moved as far over to right as he could, hoping that the parapet would prevent him from being swept over should he loose his footing. Carefully he made his way across until he was once again on solid ground. He paused to catch his breath and looked back, something caught the corner of his eye and he stared horrified as a great wall of water roiled towards him. He scrambled as far away up the bank as he could and the wave hit and completely covered the bridge. When it finally receded the bridge was all but gone. He decided that was some kind of metaphor for the turn his life had taken. Like the real bridge had been swept away by a powerful force of nature, so had the bridge that had connected him to his old life been swept away by a powerful force of a different kind. His fate was now sealed, there was no going back either physically or otherwise.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Oh my God.” Sam whispered they stood at the top of the hill and saw the flooded valley below them.

“It’s probably not that deep.” Vala said.

“That’s as maybe.” Cam responded. “But, if I’m not mistaken, wasn’t there a bridge there before.”

“Obviously it has been swept away.” Teal’c added.

“But that means….” Vala didn’t bother to end the statement.

“That’s assuming he got this far. Don’t forget there’s another team out there.” Cam said as he radioed Col Reynolds.

“No sign Mitchell. Sorry.” Reynolds was cut off when Landry contacted Cam.

“I take it you’ve had no luck yet?”

“No sir, and we’ve just hit a snag. The bridge, which is the only way in to the city, appears to have been washed away. We need to find an alternative means of crossing the river.”

“”Are you sure Dr Jackson made it that far?”

“ColonelMitchell.” Teal’c was pointing to something in the distance. “Hold on a sec Sir.”

“I believe I saw movement within the city.”

“O-kay, lets take a look see.” He pulled out a set of binoculars and fiddled with the focus.

”Well, there’s someone down there, it’s difficult to tell, but my money’s on Daniel.” He told the others.

”Let’s see.” Vala snatched the binoculars and peered at the minute figure in the distance.

“It’s Daniel?” She announced resolutely. “At least we know he’s okay.” She added unconvincingly.

“Sir, we’ve just spotted him, at least, we’re pretty certain it’s him, in the city. We’re going to make our way there and see if we can forge that river.”

Landry was in half a mind to order them back and send in a team of marines to retrieve the errant archaeologist, but, the other half figured the job should be left to those he was closest to.

“I’ll see if Siler can come up with any ideas. You have three hours before you are due to report back, at that time, you return to the SGC. With or without Dr Jackson.” He regretted having to remind them of that, but Woolsey was already at the base along with a team of what to him looked like highly paid mercenaries. Please God don’t let them be the ones to find Dr Jackson, he prayed silently to himself.

“With Daniel, I trust.” A voice spoke from behind Landry. Landry was ambivalent, on the one hand, it was a kind of comfort having Jack here, on the other, the look in those brown eyes indicated that there could be trouble ahead.

“Jack, I didn’t realize you’d arrived.”

Jack briefly nodded at Landry and drew closer to the mic.

“I’ll be joining the party folks, so get out the welcome wagon.”


At the other end Cam stared at his companions.

“Er, I take it you all got that.” He said to them all.

“Sir, I that wise, I mean…the IOA.” Sam said in to her radio.

“Screw the IOA, there’s no way I’m letting Woolsey and his lackeys get their hands on Daniel. I’ve had enough of this. I’ll be there ASAP. I’m overriding your current orders, we stay as long as it takes. O’Neill out.”

“That’s more like it.” Vala exclaimed with a genuine smile. From the moment she’d met the General she’d felt that he was a man who’d let nothing stand in his way, he’d proved it once when he’d finally accepted Daniel’s word during – that – time, and here he was again, like some kind of – what was it she’d read somewhere, a knight in shining armor. Her hope that this mess would get sorted rose a hundredfold.

“We’ll come and meet you Sir.” Cam said in to the radio.

“No, you stay put, Siler’s getting some gear together, and I hear there’s a bridge out.”

“Yeah, there’s some flooding Sir, looks like the bridge was washed away. The river looks pretty fast, and we could be in for some more rain.”

“Leave it with me Mitchell.” Jack said keeping the abject worry from his voice.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Daniel was exhausted, but he kept plodding on. The outskirts of the city were a mass of ruins. Worse than he’d imagined. Water was rushing down the ancient streets turning them in to mini-torrents, making the going very difficult. But he was determined to reach his goal. In the heart of the city he could see a faint glow. What it was he had no idea, but that was where he had to be. He clambered over fallen chunks of masonry, at one point had to move what seemed like half a building from his path, but no obstacle would stop him. There was too much at stake.

Finally, he was almost there, but his legs turned to jelly and he had to sit down. He found some shelter in a doorway, it was beginning to rain again. He was completely drained, both emotionally, and physically, now he had almost reached his goal, he felt numb. In fact, at this point in time, the only thing that was telling him he was still alive was the insistent throbbing in his arm where he’d cut out the locator chip. Somewhere along the way he must have caught it and it was now quite a large wound, and he almost relished the pain.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jack felt like a coiled spring as he waited for the wormhole to engage. Apart from the fact that his best friend was in trouble again, he realized how much he missed this. Siler was assuring him that the FRED could cope with the unfeasibly large load it was carrying. According to the lightening briefing he’d received, the city was about two hours walk from the ‘gate, two hours that he couldn’t afford to waste.

“Jack, I managed to get a hold of Colonel Caldwell, the Deadalus can detour to 556 and get you and SG-1 across the river, they’ll run some scans to see if they can pick up Dr Jackson’s life-sign, but that’s it, they have to carry on to Atlantis as soon as they’ve done it.” Landry announced over the mic. Jack checked the device on his wrist, and the others had those chip thingys. Landry was informing SG-1 of the plan, so that they were prepared for the sudden beam-up.

“Chevron Seven Locked.” The ubiquitous Walter announced and the wormhole kawooshed in to being. Jack found that his heart was pounding as he stepped through the event horizon. It would have been a whole bunch easier if the Odessey had been available, but it was right on the other side of the galaxy patrolling an area where those damned Ori ships had been seen. It had been an incredible stroke of luck that the Daedalus had only just left for Pegasus.

“Well, rain, that makes all the difference.” Jack snarked as he arrived on 556. It was torrential, with the full works, thunder and lightening. Colonel Reynolds greeted him briefly and explained that he’d arrange for the gear on the FRED to be set up and brought to the city. Jack barely had time to acknowledge him when he was enveloped in white light. For a few moments he was on the Odessey, and then back on the planet with SG-1 sans Daniel.

“Sir, that was quite an entrance.” Sam smiled.

“Carter, just tell me why the Daedalus couldn’t have just beamed Daniel aboard and have done with all this, or failing that, beamed us closer to his location.” He waved an arm expansively as he spoke.

“Err, he removed his locater chip. They wouldn’t have been able to get a lock, he hasn’t got his radio either. We only know he’s in the city because we made a visual confirmation.” She explained. “They attempted to find him using the ships sensors, but there’s some kind of dampening field in place, and, they couldn’t stay too long, they’re needed urgently in the Pegasus Galaxy.”

“So, is someone going to tell me what the hell is going on here. Landry tells me that you all seem to think Daniel’s lost it completely this time.” There was deep concern in Jack’s eyes.

“I wouldn’t put it quite that way…”Cam began, but Vala interrupted him.

“Well, General.” Vala stepped forward. Jack gave her a ‘look’

“Vala - if I remember rightly.” He stared at her so intently that she almost dropped her own gaze.

“Daniel started acting a little odd from the moment we stepped through the ‘gate. More ‘snarky’ than usual, and as soon as we saw the city, he seemed obsessed by it. We were wondering….while he was with you…did you…I mean….”

“Was he a little off, is that what you mean.” Jack continued to star at her. She was fidgeting and nervous, not because of him though, she was desperately worried for Daniel. He remembered from his last encounter with her, she had it bad for Daniel, really bad. He’d tried talking to him about it during their time up at his cabin, but Daniel had been extremely reticent on the subject. In fact, for the entire two weeks that they’d spent at his cabin, Daniel had been very quiet. But, what else had he excpeted, after what Daniel had been through. Several times though, he’d though that Daniel had wanted to tell him something, but, each time he’d clammed up like the proverbial – clam. When he’d driven him to the airport, Daniel had assured him that getting back on to active duty would be the best thing for him. And, he’d agreed. Maybe he shouldn’t have done so quite so readily, he could easily extended his leave, maybe taken Daniel somewhere completely different. Hawaii perhaps, spent as much time as needed. But, the last couple of days Daniel had been antsy, even a bit more ‘snarky’ than he’d seen him for a very long time. Now he wished he’d insisted that they’d taken more time, maybe even forced him to talk more about the time he’d spent as Adria’s captive. Hindsight was a wonderful thing wasn’t it? He thought irritably to himself.

“Vala, I think we’ve all made a terrible mistake, assuming Daniel was coping, and I don’t just mean us, I mean the doctors and the psychiatrists too. Daniel has a way of dealing with psychiatrists, and, his last experience with being under psychiatric care had been an unmitigated disaster, and as the result of total mis-diagnosis. I guess, if the truth be known, on the one hand we didn’t want to put him through something like that again, on the other, we assumed too much regarding his coping abilities.” Jack told her.

“It was more than that General, we wanted him to okay so badly that we…….” She tailed off.

“Well, we need to get him back, to us I mean, not necessarily the SGC.” There was a crack in her voice, she was so scared that Weasely would get his slimy little hands on him, and he’d never see the light of day again. It would kill him, of that she had no doubt.

“Sir, we should make our way in to the city, find Daniel.” Sam prompted.

“Okay, the city it is then!” Jack said trying to sound breezy, but his heart was heavy.

After a few minutes, Jack predictably complained about the going.

“They beamed us as close in as they could Sir, Colonel Caldwell told me that much before we were beamed back down to the surface. Apparently, the dampening field is surrounding all but the very outskirts of the city.”

“Ahh, if you say so Carter. It never could be that easy, could it.” Jack acknowledged quickly before she could launch in one of her spates of technobabble.

“Of course Sir, you do realize what that means, don’t you?” he looked at her as is mystified. “Well, something has to be generating the field. Which means there must be an active power source somewhere close by, and, it does beg the question, why is a dampening field necessary.”

“At this point in time Carter, I don’t care, we’re here to get Daniel, not get sidetracked by a generator or some such doohickey.”

Sam looked contrite. She was well aware of their primary mission. And she cared what happened to Daniel just as much as he and the others did. But, if they could also present something useful in their fight against the Ori, it might just help Daniel’s cause.

The rain was pelting down and the team bringing the gear from the FRED were having a tough time of it too. And they were going to have it even tougher when they started constructing the temporary bridge. Jack had called them and told them that conditions were worse than they thought and to keep in radio contact.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Daniel roused himself from the restless sleep he’d fallen in to and he immediately panicked. The urge to reach the center of the city was overwhelming him. He dragged himself to his feet and almost fell over. He was assailed by a wave of dizziness and nausea, which compounded by the throbbing pain in his arm. He risked a look and saw that the self-inflicted wound was inflamed and red and obviously infected. He cursed angrily, in his haste he’d not sterilized his knife before gouging the chip from his arm, and he’d dropped it in good that knows what that was covering the floor of the cave a couple of times, add to that the fact that he hadn’t bothered to bathe it in antiseptic or taken the precaution of popping a couple of antibiotic tablets, he’d probably poisoned himself. This would all be a waste if he dropped down dead from septicemia before a accomplished his task. After a few dry heaves he forced himself onwards, the glow beckoning him like a beacon.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“What is that?” Cam asked when the glow became visible.

“They tried scanning the city from the Daedalus, but the sensors couldn’t penetrate the field.” Sam reminded them.

“I believe it is what may have been drawing DanielJackson to this place.” Teal’c stated.

“Ya think!” Jack snorted. As far as he was concerned and seeing the glow, it was a given.

“Sir, if I’m not mistaken…….” Sam said with an awestruck voice.

“No Carter, you aren’t, Daniel’s glowy friends are at the bottom of this one.” Jack sighed, but a feeling of dread had formed a knot in his stomach.

“You mean, this is…I mean that’s…….” Cam was almost lost for words.

“Ascended Ancients.” Vala filled in astutely.

They all stared at the the ‘thing’ that was emitting the glow. Jack, Sam and Teal’c had all seen something similar before. It was a dome that seemed to be comprised of glowy ascended Ancients. Or at least, something that looked very similar.

“But, what would they be doing here, and why? I mean, Daniel’s told us countless times that they won’t get involved with us ‘lower beings’ I don’t understand.” Sam stuttered.

“You don’t have to understand.” Jack said through thinned lips. “All you have to know is that when Daniel gets involved with his glowy friends everything goes FUBAR.”

“FUBAR?” Vala looked puzzled and Cam explained the meaning of the acronym to her. “Ahh, I wish I’d known that one a long time ago.” She remarked with a sad, almost retrospective little smile.

They made their way through the streets, Teal’c pointed out the section that he figured Daniel must have had to move.

“Daniel did that on his own?” Vala remarked in a heartbroken little voice. The size of the pieces that had moved demonstrated how desperate he must be to reach the heart of the city. They all regarded the huge chunks of masonry and ancient timber beams that had obviously recently been moved. Jack squashed down a wave of guilt for not picking up on the fact that the man he had the audacity to regard as his best friend had been hiding the fact that he was so troubled. On the other hand, Daniel was a master at hiding how he was really feeling, especially these last few years.

“I can’t believe he managed to shift all this on his own.” Sam remarked with large teary eyes, Cam was silent and thoughtful. After a while he spoke.

“How the hell did we all miss this? I mean, was it because we just wanted to forget the whole incident, brush it all under the carpet, I mean, none of us really know what HE went through do we. So it was all too easy to pretend that every thing was all hunky dory.” He kicked on of the timbers with pent up anger.

“Well, standing around talking about what we didn’t do isn’t getting any nearer to finding him.” Vala said putting on a brave front, inside she was falling apart. Jack caught her eye and gave her an encouraging smile.

The rain was still falling heavily and the water was running down the streets like a river. But, they were getting nearer to the glowing heart of the city.

“How come we didn’t see this when we first saw the place?” Cam wondered out loud, none of them had noticed anything remotely glowy when they’d gazed upon it from the hillside.

“Something must have triggered it.” Sam remarked checking her instruments. There was a slight energy reading when we arrived, but it’s remained constant the whole time we’ve been here. It could be emitted by the dampening field, but logically it should have risen when – that – became active.”

Vala who was at the front came to an abrupt halt. They had reached the heart of the city and the location of the white glow. Silhoutted ahead of them was a familiar figure. She called out his name and went to run to him, but Jack stopped her with a firm hand on her shoulder.

“Wait, loose the weapons.” He ordered. Sam and Teal’c complied immediately. Cam frowned for a second and then surrendered his. Vala took up a defiant stance.

“Vala, if there are Ascended Ancients here, we must not be seen to be armed. We’ve seen what they’re capable of, you saw it when Daniel summoned up those bolts of lightening that killed Adria’s soldiers, and, if they are here, and perceive us as threat, well…..”

“Okay, I get it, I didn’t realize.” She hurriedly divested herself of her gun, zat, a couple of knives, and extra gun, something that none of them recognized.

“Err, Vala, how did you get that through security?” Cam asked her picking up the small device.

“I showed it to them them!” She said evasively, she’d actually told them it was a family heirloom. “It’s inert until handled by someone who’s either a host or once was a host to a Goa’uld. Actually, I’ve gotten so used to carrying it I almost forgot about it.”

“I have never seen this particular device before.” Teal’c commented. Vala turned towards him.

“It was unique to Qetesh, the Goa’uld I was host too, call it a souvenir if you like.” She explained, but her gaze kept returning to Daniel. Jack too was keen to go and grab Daniel, if he had a bad feeling before, he couldn’t describe what he was feeling now. All he knew was that if they didn’t do something soon they were going to loose Daniel for good.

“You guys stay back.” Jack suggested. “Vala, you’re with me.”

“But Sir.” Sam complained.

“Carter, It’s a good guess that Daniel’s teetering on the edge at the moment. If we crowd him, we’re gonna loose him, Vala and I need to do this, you guys, I trust you to back us up and look out for us. T, buddy, you understand, don’t you.”

“Indeed I do O’Neill.” He gave his brother in arms a stately bow. “We will render assistance should you require it.”

“Carter?” Jack gave her a meaningful look.

“Absolutely Sir, all we want is Daniel back with us safe and sound.”

Jack and Mitchell merely exchanged nods of understanding and he impulsively gave Vala a hug and a whispered reassurance that everything would be fine.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Daniel had heard Vala’s shout, but he ignored it. He needed to find a way through this barrier. He was a little perturbed that they had caught up with him so easily, when the bridge had been swept away he’d been certain that they would take a lot longer to find a way to cross the raging torrent. He had just reached the barrier when he’d heard Vala call his name. Something inside him was telling him all he had to do was step through, but he was afraid. Now he’d reached his goal he was actually having second thoughts. He tentatively reached out a hand to touch the barrier.

“Daniel, whatcha doing?”

Daniel retracted his arm and stared at Jack, he blinked a few times. What the hell was he doing here?

“Daniel, why don’t you come and talk to us. Look, Sam, Teal’c and Cameron are over there waiting.” Vala said gently.

They were both horrified at his appearance, he looked decidedly ill, his clothes, like theirs were wet through, but, unlike them, he had no jacket. Jack noticed the nasty looking wound on his arm.

“Jack, I have to get in there.” Now that the others were here, the urgency he’d felt earlier had returned. He raised his arm again. Jack noticed he didn’t use his right arm, the one with the injury, instead he used his left, an indication that the wound must be very painful.

“Okay Daniel, but before you do, let Vala do something about that cut, it looks a bit nasty to me.”

“What, oh that, it’s nothing, had to get the chip out. I’m fine.” Jack didn’t like the vague look in his friend’s blue eyes, or the distracted way he was acting.

Jack rolled his eyes heavenwards. Daniel was a classic case of fine being an acronym for Freaked out, Insecure, Neurotic and Emotional. I’m fine ALWAYS meant exactly the opposite where he was concerned.

“Daniel, please, just come and sit under that porch thing, out of the rain for a moment. I’ll clean that wound, and you can tell us why you needed to come here.” Vala gently tugged at his arm, but he pulled away.

“No, I’ll be fine, I just need too………….” He reached out towards the white glowy barrier again.

“Daniel!” Jack said more firmly. “Just, come and sit, just for a moment.”

Blue eyes locked with brown. Jack hated how drawn and pale Daniel looked, and there were dark shadows under his eyes. He gently grabbed his upper arms as Daniel swayed and almost fell.

“That’s it Daniel, you’re sick, and you’re coming with us. Vala go and ask Carter to get some water on the boil, that wound needs attention and he needs something hot inside him.”

Vala scurried away but kept looking back at the two men. She knew that if anyone could talk Daniel round it had to be Jack O’Neill.

“Danny, come with, ‘kay, once you’ve been seen to and had something hot to drink, and a change of clothes, then we’ll see what’s going on here.” Jack was almost pleading with his friend. Daniel slowly nodded and allowed Jack to lead him back to the others.

Sam had the water almost boiling and Vala was ripping open a pack of sterile wipes. Cam was digging around in his pack for some dry clothes. Teal’c immediately took up a protective stance by Daniel. While Vala cleaned his wound, Sam made some coffee for them all. Cam and Jack managed to get him in to some dry clothes and Jack gently wrapped a thermal blanket around his shivering form. The relief that they’d got him away from the barrier and in to their care was palpable. But he was clearly very sick and extremely troubled. All through the ministrations he was vague and distant. Jack tried to engage him in conversation, but trying to get him to respond was like trying to get blood from a stone. Jack had a horrible feeling that it was going to take a long while for Daniel to get through this, and not without professional help either! They’d tried it without, and clearly had failed miserably.

“How are we going to get him back down to the river.” Vala voiced what they were all thinking. He appeared to be be deteriorating fast. Jack made a call to Reynolds to check in their progress. He was hoping they had something that could be utilized as a stretcher, but, they would have to wait for it to be brought up here so Daniel could be carried back to the ‘gate. The rain was still falling and Reynolds explained that they might have to wait before they could begin constructing the temporary bridge. Effectively, they were trapped in the city.

“Okay, looks like were here for the duration. We might as well see if we can find somewhere more comfortable to wait it out.” He impulsively reached out and brushed some mud off of Daniel’s face. Daniel raised his eyes and looked at Jack with an almost apologetic expression.

“Jack, what’s going on?” He asked quietly.

“Danny, welcome back. You got your self in to a spot of bother, but, once this rain stops, we’re taking you home. You need to spend a bit of time in the infirmary.” Almost on cue Daniel was wracked by a bout of coughing. Jack felt his forehead. He was burning up.

“Oh Danny, why’s it always you these things happen too, I’d kind of hoped you’d grown out of it by now.” They were more or less alone. The others were scouting for a less exposed place of shelter. Daniel seemed a little less tense with it being just the two of them.

“Daniel, I need to say this. I’m so sorry, I should have recognized that you hadn’t gotten over that ‘Prior’ crap as easily as we’d all let ourselves believe. I let you down when you needed me most.” While he spoke, he was rubbing Daniel’s hands, which were contrarily cold considering his fever.

“I’ll make sure that when we get you back, Woolsey and his weasles don’t get their claws in to you. But, you can’t do this alone, and neither can I.”

Daniel pulled one of his hands away and gently touched Jack’s face.

“Not your fault Jack, none of you. Mine, all mine. I was too over confident, I thought I could do it, cope with Merlin in my head, but he lied to me. Used me.”

To Jack’s dismay, Daniel’s eyes filled with tears.

“Daniel, if it’ll help to talk about what happened before you were beamed aboard the Odessey….”

Daniel gave Jack a long look, and Jack was sure he was finally about to share the burden he was obviously carrying when Sam popped her head around the corner.

“We’ve set up in a building just a short distance away. Teal’c’s got a fire going.” She said completely oblivious to Jack sigh of frustration. Her timing always had sucked big time.

“Get Teal’c, Daniel will need a hand.” Jack said after a moment.

“Be right back Sir.” She said and beamed a smile at Daniel, but he seemed to have slumped back in to that vague state again.

Daniel let them settle him down close enough to the fire so that he’d benefit from the heat, but in a quiet corner of the room they’d appropriated for the duration.

“Try to get some sleep Danny.” Jack said softly and joined the others. Vala hovered over Daniel for a moment.

”I’m sorry Daniel, We all are.” She said in a cracked voice and leant down a kissed him softly on the cheek.

He lay there and listened to them talking. Sam had given him something for the pain in his arm, and it was helping, which was good, because, once they were asleep, which hopefully, they would be soon, he could creep out of here and carry on with his mission.

Jack and Vala were both as bad as one another. Neither of them wanted to take their eyes off of Daniel for more than a moment or two. Teal’c assured them that he would watch over him while they slept, as at was quite late in to the night now. Cam and Sam were busy discussing the logistics of getting Daniel back down to the river, and, in Sam’s case, speculating about the energy barrier. Jack realized it was their way of dealing with their worry. Both military trained, it was easier for them to fall back onto their training to help them deal in such a crisis. He, on the other hand, had a complete blind spot where Daniel was concerned. He was worried sick, and was quite content to wallow in the fact.

Vala wanted to fuss over Daniel, but Jack and Teal’c both persuaded her that peace and quiet was what he liked best when he was sick or injured, he’d never been a one for fuss. She trusted them both, and tried to get some sleep.

Hours later even Teal’c had fallen asleep. Daniel gave it a few minutes more before very carefully unwinding himself from the blankets and carefully making his way to the doorway. He tensed as Vala changed position, knocking Jack with her elbow as she did so, but to his relief, neither of them woke up. He got outside, it had mercifully stopped raining, but apart from the faint glow from the energy barrier, which was actually around a couple of corners from their makeshift accommodations, it was very dark. He swayed dizzily for a moment, waited for it to pass, and pulled on his boots. Even though he was desperate to get to the barrier, he realized that the broken glass and shards of broken ceramics that strewed the ground would make it impossible for him to get very far without them.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Vala woke suddenly. She lay there for a moment, feeling a little disoriented, but then why they were where they were hit her and she glanced over to Daniel’s corner. She drew in a sharp breath when she realized it was unoccupied. Impulsively she shook Jack and he awoke with a start.

“Jack, It’s me, Vala, Daniel’s gone.” She whispered urgently. Jack rubbed his eyes and muttered under his breath.

“Oh for crying out loud, Okay Vala, let’s go and get him back.” He heaved his aching bones in to a sitting position.

“Should we tell the others?”

Jack looked at them. They had all been exhausted, and seemed to be in very deep sleeps.

“No, leave them, we can handle him.” He gave Vala a grin, which didn’t quite reach his eyes. Silently they went after their errant friend.

“I never expected to sleep, I was too worried.” Vala said wonderingly. “And Teal’c?”

“I know, wouldn’t put it past those glowy friends of Danny’s to have done something to us.” Jack said cynically.

“You think they WANT him to go into that…..thing?”

“Well, think about it Vala, you yourself told me he’d been almost obsessive about coming here, then there’s that..” He waved an arm vaguely in the light cast by the barrier, his connection with the Ancients, and all that crap that just happened, so, go figure.”

They rounded a corner and before Vala could do anything, Jack yelled Daniel’s name, ordered Vala to stay where she was, and hurled himself at the form of the archeologist just as he was disappearing in to the light.

Vala was frozen to the spot, Jack’s words ordering her to stay put ringing in her ears. Jack reached Daniel and grabbed him, but rather than being able to pull him back from the light, he felt himself being pulled towards it.

“Daniel, for crying out loud!” He yelled as Daniel tried to yank himself out of Jack’s grasp.

“No Jack, just let me,,,I have to do this!” Daniel was struggling to get out of Jack’s grasp.

“Over my dead body Daniel.” But it was no use.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Vala’s hand went to her mouth, as in a state of shock, she watched helplessly as both Jack and Daniel vanished in to the white glow, which suddenly seemed to grow in intensity. As she stood there, rooted to the spot, the light seemed to fold in on itself, and while she deciding whether to follow them, or go and get the others, in the blink of an eye, it had vanished, taking Jack and Daniel with it.

TBC


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