"SG-1, your next assignment is P3W Z99. Major Carter's made some interesting discoveries concerning this planet. Major?"
Sam nodded to the general, and stood up. "Thank you, Sir." She pointed to the projector screen, where the MALP video data was shown as pictures. "We scouted this planet yesterday. The gate seems to be inside some sort of crystal caves. We're not quite sure what the crystal is, though. We detected some high energy readings approximately five kilometers from the gate. From what we can tell, it's not dangerous, and it could be a sign of an advanced alien race. At the very least, we should look for whatever is giving off this much energy, we may be able to bring it back to study."
Daniel squinted at the screen. "Sam, can you zoom in a little closer on the walls?"
"Sure"
"There," he said, pointing at what were obviously writings of some kind. "Sir, I'd like to check these out if you don't mind, maybe they'll give us some clue about the race we'll be dealing with."
Hammond nodded, and stood up. "Very good. Get on that right away, Doctor Jackson. You all depart tomorrow at 0700 hours. Dismissed." He walked into his office, closing the door behind him.
Jack clapped his hands. "Well, Campers, looks like it's going to be another fun exploration mission. I'm going to get some lunch. Anyone interested?" Teal'c declined, as did Daniel, but Sam said she'd go with him.
"So, any plans for next weekend?" he asked her. "I was thinking, we could go up to my cabin, just you and me. Whaddya think?" Sam and Jack had been dating since the reunion. Sure, it was against regulations, but nobody had called them on it yet. Of course, nobody knew besides Daniel, Teal'c and Janet, but it wasn't like they were hiding it from Hammond – they just forgot to mention it.
She looked over at him, smiling. "That sounds great, Jack." Nowadays, they only referred to each other by their ranks when they were with other people at the SGC. In private, it was just Jack and Sam.
They walked into the commissary, and picked up some trays. Jack grabbed a sandwich and milk, Sam got a plate of lemon chicken (you never know when McKay will come to call) and some blue jello. They sat down at a secluded table in the corner, and discussed their latest mission. It wasn't out of the ordinary to find a gate inside some other structure, but the fact that it was inside a natural cave system was a little puzzling. There was no way, that Sam could see, that anyone would have been able to move the gate in there. It was obvious that there had been some sort of civilization there at some point, just from the writing on the crystal walls.
They finished their meal, and stood up. "Well, Sir, I have to get back to my lab," Sam said apologetically, putting her tray back and throwing out her garbage. "I need to finishing analyzing all the data we got back from the MALP."
"No problem, Carter. Hey," he said, lowering his voice, "we still on for dinner tonight?"
She smiled at him. "Of course. See you at six." He watched her go, wondering what he could do to pass the time. He still had some paperwork to do – he hadn't finished his mission report from their last offworld mission, and he always made it his policy to at least hand it in before leaving on a new assignment.
He opened the door to his office, and turned on his computer. He noticed that he had 15 new emails, which was odd, because only about five people had that address, and all of them worked at the SGC. He opened one of them, and sighed. It was another of those bloody pictures. Ever since that reunion a few weeks ago, Daniel had been sending him that picture every hour, on the hour. Jack wasn't sure, but he thought he'd shown it to every member of SGs 2, 4, 5, 7 and 10. Somehow, the picture still hadn't made it's way to Hammond, which was something of a puzzle in itself – you normally couldn't keep something like this a secret from anybody very long at the SGC, especially not the man in charge. Oh, well, Jack shrugged as he deleted the new emails. I guess I should be thankful I haven't been shipped to Antarctica for this, 'cause that's probably what would happen if the general ever found out. He sighed, and opened the file to finish his report.