Author: lord_spyridon aka Spyridon
Title: Dangerous Game
Status: Complete
Pairing(s): N/A
Additional Categories: Alternate Universe,
Genre: Action, Angst, Drama,
Season/Episode/Book: Season 4
Rating: T
Warnings: N/A
Spoilers: N/A
Series/Sequels: The Bleeding Lord
Author's Note: N/A

/You stand before me now we stare eye to eye
Before another second clicks away one of us will die
You reach for your metal as I reach for mine
The sound of bullets flyin' through the air is followed by a cry
And they're cryin'/
~ 3 Doors Down, 'Dangerous Game'

Daniel slammed the door to his apartment. Lately, he had been arriving furious and angry to his home from the SGC. For the past three months, the arguments between him and Jack had been getting worse and worse. Now, they were almost arguing in the halls. Their easygoing nature had completely disappeared.

He growled, remembering their last argument.

"God damn it, Jack!" Daniel threw his helmet at the nearest airman. He stomped up to the colonel, forgetting about the blood and dirt covering him. "Why in God's sake did you fire? They weren't a threat! It was a simple misunderstanding!" He yelled. Sam and Teal'c made their exit quickly, knowing what was about to come.

"Oh for Pete's sake, Daniel, that guy had a blade at your throat. Don't tell me that wasn't a threat?" Jack snapped back, his eyes flashing. The guards in the room looked at each others, surprised at how the usually calm scholar and the joking colonel were at each other's throats.

"That's how they find out if we were enemy or friend. I told you not to feel threatened by their customs." Daniel refused to back down.

"Well, I'm sorry for not taking you seriously Daniel." Jack drawled. He handed his gun to a guard.

"Jack we just about killed innocent people and you are just brushing it off? You are even lucky they are planning to talk to us again. . . ." Jack cut Daniel off.

"Yes, Daniel I know that we on the brink of screwing up the mission. I don't need you to remind me of that fact." Jack turned and stomped away, fuming silently.

Daniel closed his mouth shut, his teeth clicking in the silent room. Ignoring the looks he was getting from the personnel, he made his way to the infirmary.

He knew he was right. He had specifically told Jack that some of the native's culture was to assess whether or not new arrivals were enemy or foe. They were lucky that Jack had come to his senses and jerked the gun up at the last moment, the bullets spraying through the trees instead of the assembled group. The natives had quickly understood why Jack had assumed that they were threatening Daniel and had apologized profusely.

They told him to come back in a week to see if the peace talks would continue. Daniel snorted. The JCS were counting on them to catch this Naquadah mine. Forgetting for the moment, he opened his satchel and began to work on translations SG-13 needed for their mission.

A WEEK LATER

The bonfire in the middle of the clearing lit up the faces and bodies around it. The council of the people had forgiven SG-1 and had signed a document that gave the SGC to permission to begin mining in the Dead Land as they called them. From what Daniel was able to gather, the swamps had a cave system that included a unusual number of sinkholes and tiankengs. Based on the locals' information, he also deduced that it was anchialine system since the water levels seemed to be affected by the tides of the ocean that was only half a day's walk from their city. The village superstition was that the spirits of the wronged waited for unwary travelers to walk pass them before dragging them down to be condemned in the watery graves. He had passed this information over to Jack who brushed it off.

Daniel looked from his place in the shadows, watching as the people danced and sung in a close circle to the flames. He didn't know what to do to fix the relationship between him and Jack. Every attempt he had made to heal the fracture only made it worse. Eventually he had given up. He was pondering on the thought to resign from the SGC. The only problem with that was the fact that he was still being ridiculed in the archeological community.

"Dan'l?" Turning around, Daniel came face to face to an old woman stooped with age. It was the Councilor Alana, the oldest serving and also the village's main shaman. He bowed to her as was per the village custom.

"How may I help you Council?" He asked, making some space for her to seat if she wanted to.

The old woman smiled, handing him a cup. "It pleases me that our people have formed this beneficial alliance."

"Of course. If you ever need our help, then you only need to call with the GDO Sam gave you." Daniel gestured to the Stargate. In return for the mining rights, the SGC would send a team from their engineering department to help the village design and make a water pumping station that would move water from a clean spring a half a day away in the opposite direction of the ocean.

"Ah, the GDO as your friend called them. Silly names for such high magic."

Daniel took a sip of the warm beverage. "They are not magic, Alana, they are merely technology. In time, your people will learn how to make and operate them as mine did over a century ago."

"I see our young warriors are interested in your friends." Alana nodded over to where a group of young man surrounded Jack and Teal'c. "Your friends are fine warriors though the silver-haired one seems to be misguided."

Daniel bowed his head. "He only thought your scouts were threatening to harm me. We have run into situations that started out like that and almost ended in it killing us all." He turned to look at the fire, a haunted look on his face, forgotten memories flickering across his eyes. "He does not wish it to happen again."

"Suspicion of others is healthy but when one is constantly paranoid, they only make enemies." Alana warned.

"The ones who are enemies wish to destroy us and their spies are many." Daniel answered, remembering Tanith and the emotional pain it had caused Teal'c. The fire crackled sending up a flow of sparks into the night sky. Daniel suddenly yawned. "Whoops, I guess I'm tired." He said sheepishly, hoping that he did not insult Alana.

The elder shaman watched him. "Why do you not take a rest in your tent? Your friend has said that you would be leaving early in the morning to return home tomorrow."

"Yes, I better." He finished his drink and handed it back to her. "I'll see you tomorrow, Alana. Thank you for the beverage."

"Good night, Dan'l."

FOUR DAYS LATER

"She trusted me, Jack." Daniel yelled, slamming his fist down onto his desk. "I gave her my word."

"She's was a robot, for crying out loud." Jack said, exasperated.

"She had the mind of a child. Of a child."

"Who tried to kill you! It threw you against the wall and broke your wrist without thought." Jack eyed the cast adorning Daniel's broken left hand.

"She was feeling threatened which I can understand as you came in, gun a-blasting."

"I had no choice, Daniel. Her 'toys' were no longer under control, running rampant within the SGC." Jack yelled back. "They were already entering the self-destruct room with General Hammond and Carter inside."

"She was starting to shut them down!"

"It wouldn't shut them down. And if she wanted to, they were no longer listening to her and you know that! Would you put the lives of everyone on base at risk based only on your belief that there was a remote chance she would help you?" Jack asked him angrily. "It could have gotten Hammond and Carter killed while you're trying to make nice with it."

"Of course not!" Daniel looked at him. "How could you say that?" The anger was beginning to boil out of control.

"You were implying it, Daniel."

Daniel rolled his eyes. "It's only that you believe in killing everyone before they can try and defend themselves."

"We're fighting a war, Daniel. There are losses. If you can't handle it, then you shouldn't be here." Jack stated.

Anger blazed through Daniel's eyes, his teeth clenched tightly. He had to keep his cool. "Just get the hell out of my office, colonel. I don't need your insults when I already have them from the rest of the base." He grounded out. The colonel didn't move an inch, so Daniel said what Jack had feared the most on a personal level, one that he had never told anybody. A few moments later, a scared Jack looked at him through narrow eyes. Snapping his mouth shut, he stormed out of the room, leaving a fuming Daniel in his wake.