Title: The Tree of Freedom

Fandom: Stargate SG1

Characters: Jack O'Neill, Samantha Carter, Teal'c, Daniel Jackson

Pairings: SJ of course, but not exclusive, just squint a little!

Rating: T

Genre: Adventure, Friendship, Angst, Romance, Mystery

A/N: Mistakes are mine.. However ENJOY! :) and please feel free to leave a review :)

Summary: On a routine mission, SG1 come across a civilisation that has enslaved their women. While SG1 dig deeper into the reasons why, one of their team gets into a spot of trouble.

The Tree of Freedom

Chapter 1

The large gate cut out after General Hammond gave the team his farewell. Sam smiled at Teal'c before looking out at the landscape in front of her. The trees were a mixture of ruby and gold hues and the leaves that were falling from them looked like confetti - nature's celebration for SG1's arrival. There were some animals calling out to one another, at least, that's what Sam thought was happening, still, she gripped her gun a little closer to her body. There was a light breeze, ruffling her short blonde locks. If Sam closed her eyes, it was almost as if she was still on Earth. Well, minus the extra two suns in the sky.

"Well, campers. The drone found some ruins thataway," said O'Neill, pointing his hand in the general direction of the ruins. "The sooner we look at the rocks, the sooner we can leave."

Sam and Daniel both shot the Colonel an exasperated look. "Jack, what are you talking about? This planet is perfe-"

"Ah!" Jack silenced Daniel. "Do NOT finish that word. Every time one of us comments on how cool a place is, something happens to make it not cool anymore!"

Sam bit her lip to stop a smile from creeping onto her face. "I didn't realise you were superstitious, Sir."

"Not superstitious, Carter. Just smart." said Jack, before signalling for them all to start walking towards the ruins.

"I am in concurrence with Major Carter, O'Neill. The Tau'ri - and you - have displayed many examples of superstition." said Teal'c, his face impassive.

"Such as?" asked Jack, feigning shock.

Sam smirked and fell back so she was at the back of the group. She had learnt in the past to leave Teal'c and Jack alone when it came to their little arguments. The longer Teal'c stayed on Earth, the more he was learning and picking up. His observations of the Tau'ri way of life had sparked many an argument with the Colonel - for fun, of course. It served Daniel and Sam with entertainment on their long hikes anyway. Sam tuned back in after she heard Jack scoff out loud.

"...Cracks in the pavement, the number thirteen, a magpie-"

"My Mom never broke her back-"

"Which obviously has something to do with you avoiding cracks on the sidewalk?" input Daniel, making Teal'c raise an eyebrow.

Jack pointed at the archaeologist. "Exactly! There ya go. Concrete evidence right there! Your move, T!"

Sam shook her head and was about to comment when she walked into Colonel O'Neill's back. She took a step back and looked ahead. For a moment she was unable to see what had made the party stop. She could see the ruins not too far into the distance - about half a click away - she could see a small stream that they would need to cross to get to the ruins - not too deep judging by the watermarks on the bank - and she could see more red and golden trees.

"Sir?"

"Look at that tree, Carter. What's wrong with it?" prompted Jack, his voice barely above a whisper.

Sam followed his line of sight to see a tree in the middle of a clearing, surrounded by wooden posts with carvings. Each wooden post held a candle, flames flickering in the light breeze. The tree itself was tall, its highest point easily surpassing three gates stacked one atop of the other. The leaves were a bright emerald green with no sign of changing to red or gold any time soon. Around the entire tree and in the clearing provided by the posts, there were what looked like fireflies flying around.

"It's green, Sir." breathed Sam, completely enchanted by the tree.

"Should it not be the same as the others surrounding us?" said Teal'c, gripping his staff and pointing it in front of him with an air of suspicion.

"Maybe there's something in the water." suggested Daniel, moving forward to get a closer look. Jack reached out and caught Daniel by the scruff of his neck.

"That is not a good idea, Daniel." said Jack, loosening his grip on the archaeologist. "Touching things we don't know can lead to bad consequences."

"We could take a sample to test when we get back to Earth? Maybe there are some properties in the water that we can use as medicine?" suggested Sam.

Jack let go of Daniel's collar and nodded. "Sure, but don't let it touch you."

Sam nodded and the team continued their walk towards the stream that they had to cross. The stream in question fed directly to the tree that had raised their suspicions. The team stood at the bank of the stream, eyeing the tree with an air of awe and wonder.

"It's so ethereal." said Daniel. "I wonder if the rest of the planet is like this, you know, beyond these woods."

Jack shrugged and watched Sam as she dropped to a kneeling stance while simultaneously swinging her bag from her back to rest on the floor in front of her. She unzipped the main pocket and pulled out a jar.

"Careful Carter." said Jack eyeing her warily.

"I honestly think it is just water, Sir." replied Sam, though she did mind what she was doing. After she screwed the lid back onto the jar, she deposited it back into her bag and stood back up.

"How do you know, Carter?" asked Jack, his eyebrows raised above his sunglasses.

"Well, we know the Goa'uld terraformed the planets for human life, I'm sure they wouldn't have tampered with the water." put in Daniel, making his way over to the pair.

"I doubt this one tree has its own water source," commented Sam.

Jack was about to open his mouth to reply when he heard a splash and a shriek.

Daniel had managed to lose his footing on the bank and stumbled in, the resounding shriek was the water, caused by Daniel's lose of balance, splashing onto Sam. Daniel sat up in the water, coughing.

"It's definitely water, Jack." said Daniel, before he broke out into laughter. "Sorry Sam."

Sam shivered in the light breeze, the water was cold and was already seeping through her clothes. "It's fine, Daniel." replied Sam, trying her best not to smile. Daniel stood up and accepted the hand that Teal'c offered him.

Once they were all safely on the bank and Jack was sure Daniel was fine, they began to walk along the bank. Whilst Daniel took a swim, he had seen a path on the other side of the bank that looked like it led to the ruins that they were there to visit. The stream was significantly narrower in comparison to the rest of the stream and there was a bank of stones on either side.

They had crossed the stream and had managed to walk for about five minutes before they came into contact with what they assumed were the planet's natives.