DISCLAIMER: I'm just playing in the Stargate sandbox. If you recognize it from elsewhere, I don't own it.
Idle Hands
A caterwauler swooped low over the four figures trekking through the knee high grass towards the Stargate. The giant red bird streaked through the sky with its massive wingspan propelling it towards the alien city some six miles to the south.
"I hate those things," Jack O'Neill groused. He had been saying the same thing every time the red bird flew overhead since SG-1 had first arrived on P3Y-45Z.
"Actually, sir," Samantha Carter interjected. She found herself unable to stay silent through one more of Colonel O'Neill's string of negative comments about the bird. "They're quite fascinating. From what I could tell talking to some of the people here, their evolution suggests that we might have found another planet with prehistoric reptiles."
"Space dinosaurs?" O'Neill quipped. "You're saying we ate space dinosaurs for dinner last night?"
"Whatever their evolutionary history," Daniel Jackson added, pointedly ignoring Jack, "they're called aerin. The word has significant similarities too—"
Jack held up a fist to call for silence. Immediately, Sam raised her P-90 and Teal'c took aim with his staff weapon. The mission to P3Y-45Z had been uneventful up to this point. They had talked with the people about some minor scientific advancement and had stayed to negotiate trade. For SG-1, it was an unusually quiet mission. That it should end badly when they were within sight of the Stargate was not, for them, outside the norm. The team listened for any disturbance in the forest, but heard only the aerin nesting in the trees above. Then, Jack extended his index finger towards the DHD.
"Dial the gate, Daniel."
With an annoyed glance at Jack, Daniel jogged over to the DHD.
"We should remain longer," Teal'c suggested. "The inhabitants of this world were clearly brought here by Goa'uld, yet we have not yet discovered by which one nor why they have been left in peace for so long."
"Hey, maybe, it's because the Goa'uld thought these people were too boring."
Teal'c raised an eyebrow. "In my time as First Prime, I did not observe any Goa'uld cede their territory simply because the people residing in those lands were boring."
Sam laughed under her breath and looked away to hide it. Daniel was still standing over the DHD, but no wormhole had been established yet. She found it odd—and after the problems they had encountered on Heliopolis, a little troubling—that he hadn't dialed Earth yet. She joined him at the dialing device.
"Well, sorry, Teal'c, but we can't stay. I'm just dying to get back to the SGC so I can write a thorough report on exactly how dull these people are. I just can't wait to describe in minute detail exactly how moribund they are."
"Sir!" Sam called over her shoulder. "A wormhole won't establish. I've check the control crystals, and everything looks good in the DHD. I think the Earth gate is active, so we can't dial home."
"That's not so odd," Jack said, joining his team around the DHD. "Other teams are scheduled to use the gate too. Give it five minutes and try again."
A second aerin came careening through the forest. Its impressive wingspan clipped the old growth trees and sent a shower of branches to the ground. In the midst of the crashing of logs came the sound of the gate powering up.
"Now, that is odd," Jack admitted. When the wormhole swooshed out of the Stargate, the MALP camera flickered to life. "We'd be very much obliged, General, if you'd let us dial out. This planet is boring."
Daniel, Sam, and Teal'c stood back several feet from the MALP while Jack put his face as close as possible to the lens. His distinctive method of communication never ceased to amuse them, though only Sam and Daniel ever showed any outward mirth.
"I'm afraid I can't do that, Colonel," General Hammond responded. "A situation has developed at Stargate Command. An alien contagion was brought back by SG-4 yesterday, and Dr. Frasier has diagnosed over a dozen SGC personnel already. I'm suspending gate travel until further notice."
"If there's a situation developing, don't you need your front line team?"
"Yes, I do, which is why you're to stay on P3Y-45Z until contacted again. You weren't exposed to this contagion, and I need to keep it that way. Since the planet is boring, you shouldn't be in any danger."
"Did I say boring? I meant hostile."
"Yeah, because those two words are so easy to confuse," Daniel muttered to Sam.
"You have your orders, Colonel. Hammond out."
The MALP deactivated and the wormhole disestablished. Jack retreated and turned to his team with a shrug. Their orders were clear enough. He found a patch of dry grass and lowered himself onto the springy ground.
"At least the ground on P3Y-45Z is soft."
"That's because the—"
"Carter," Jack interrupted. "We're stranded on this planet. Don't increase my suffering with techobabble."
"Actually, it would be ecobabble," Daniel offered. He mistook Jack's frown for confusion and decided to continue with his patronizing explanation. "Sam was trying to talk about ecology, not technology."
Teal'c stepped in front of Jack, meaning to command his full attention. "Now that we have orders to remain, should we not return to the nearest city and question its people further about their history with the Goa'uld?"
"It's a nice thought, but … I don't think they'll be able to help," Daniel admitted. "Their historical records are incomplete or illegible, and they don't place a very high value on education. They're barely aware of what happened a generation ago, much less thousands of years."
"I'm sorry, Teal'c, but Daniel is right. This mission was a bust."
"Some of them are bound to be," Sam said, placing her hand on Teal'c arm. "Don't worry. As soon as we can go back to the SGC, we'll find another planet to explore. We'll keep going until we have what we need to defeat the Goa'uld."
"But for the moment," Jack said, and motioned for the rest of the team to sit down. "The ground is really soft."
Five minutes turned into an hour and then two. Two hours became four. The second sun had passed the midway point in the sky. SG-1 was growing restless. They had abandoned sitting on the cushioned ground long ago and were taking it in turns to pace around the DHD.
"Dr. Frasier should have this contagion under control any moment now. She'll set up quarantine, and then we'll be able to go back to the SGC," Sam said to no one in particular.
"This isn't supposed to happen to us. We're the frontline team. We should be in the middle of the action," Daniel observed.
"Perhaps if we were in great peril," Teal'c offered, "then General Hammond would allow us through the Stargate regardless of the situation at Stargate Command."
"Yeah, where's a System Lord with a flying pyramid and ray guns when you need him?" Jack returned.
Trying to make a dull situation more interesting, Daniel made a suggestion. "Maybe we can pass the time by playing a game. You know, like a team building exercise. Catching each other when we fall or role-playing exercises or something."
Skeptically, Sam glanced sidelong at Jack. She was going to let him shoot this idea down, which she figured he would be all too happy to do in his own snappy way. She wasn't disappointed.
"Daniel, this is the United States Air Force, not the Girl Scouts."
"Actually, sir, Girl Scout training prepared me for my field survival course in ROTC."
"Really?" The Colonel was incredulous. The idea of a young Samantha Carter ringing doorbells and selling cookies didn't jive with the brilliant and deadly Major he knew now. In response, Sam only smiled innocently.
Six hours after receiving the transmission from Stargate Command, the irritation and boredom of SG-1 had transformed into something else entirely—worry. That Dr. Frasier hadn't found a cure in this amount of time was troubling, but that General Hammond hadn't contacted them again was plain disturbing.
"I wish there was something we could do, but there's nothing on this planet that comes even remotely close to a research facility."
"And even if they did," Daniel added to Sam's sentiments, "we know nothing at all about this contagion SG-4 brought back to Earth."
"Except that they were on P4X-MY3 yesterday."
"You are suggesting, Colonel O'Neill, that a Goa'uld infected SG-4 during their reconnaissance mission? It is possible. I am certain that Apophis has this capability, as do Raijin and Janus."
"Not that knowing which Goa'uld could do this helps us reverse the process."
"No, but …" Sam stood up, resuming her pacing, "… there are protocols in place for these situations. Technically, we could gate to the Alpha site now."
"Hammond gave us a direct order, Carter. We sit tight."
"But, sir!"
"We sit tight."
Seeing that Sam couldn't object any further, Daniel jumped in with his own opinion. "Jack, what if General Hammond isn't in a position to contact us? What if no one in Stargate Command is?"
Silence reined while the archeologist's meaning hit home. They had survived many tight scraps at the SGC because of their team's strengths. It was all too easy to imagine what might be happening without them.
"Dreaming up doomsday scenarios isn't helpful, Daniel," Jack groused. Clearly, however, Daniel had had an effect on him. His tone wasn't quite as benign as it had been.
"I think we should gate to the Alpha site like Sam suggested."
"Daniel! What part of 'we sit tight' don't you understand?"
Sam and Teal'c stepped forward, both wanting to divert the inevitable fight that happened when Jack and Daniel's ideas clashed. They were spared the mediation, however, by the Stargate dialing.
"That'll be Hammond telling us to come home," the Colonel said confidently. Leaning down to stick his face in the MALP camera, Jack was surprised to see it wasn't General Hammond on the other end. "Walter! Tell us we can come home!"
"Not exactly, Colonel. I have orders from General Hammond to contact all SG teams with the following message: Report to Alpha site …"
Daniel looked entirely too pleased with himself, and every brightening of his smirk sent Jack's mood spiraling downward. He'd done the right thing staying on P3Y-45Z, and all the other SG teams off world had done the same. He caught a few other civilians looking superior too.
"What's happening at the SGC?"
It was the question every team reporting to the Alpha site had been asking. The Alpha site scientists and doctors were harassed with constant questions, but they were hard pressed to avoid answering when the likes of Sam and Daniel cornered them.
"The good news is that SG-4 brought back a bacterium, meaning it's most certainly treatable. The problem is finding that cure in enough time. Dr. Frasier sent a transmission asking us to do some research for her," a doctor reported, looking up from her Petri dish for a moment.
A technician in the room filled in what details he knew. "General Hammond started showing the symptoms about an hour ago. His last order before reporting to the infirmary was to have all SG teams report here."
"What are the symptoms?" Teal'c inquired. "Perhaps I have heard of this illness before."
"If only we could be so lucky," the doctor said, looking up again. "It begins with flu-like symptoms—headache, chills or fever, dizziness—and then progresses to something like necrotizing fasciitis, but internally."
The doctor looked at Teal'c, but he wore much the same horrified and disgusted expression as his teammates. Leaving the medical lab, Jack and Teal'c headed towards the cluster of teams around the DHD waiting for Stargate Command to send news. Sam had scuttled off to a science lab to work on some simulations, and Daniel had hurriedly joined the archeologists to see if they could find anything useful about P4X-MY3 in their books.
"We should find something to occupy our time," Jack said. "You know, idle hands being evil and all."
Teal'c furrowed his brow. "I was not aware the Tau'ri viewed idleness this way. I had received the impression leisure time is greatly valued by your people. So much so that your lives often revolve around it."
"Well, yeah, but … It's an Earth saying: 'Idle hands are the devil's tools.' Don't you have any Jaffa idioms?"
"Indeed. My father often said: 'Put no trust in Ammit's feathers.'"
Jack's eyebrows rose drastically. "Teal'c, I can honestly say I have never heard that one. Thank you for sharing." Teal'c bowed his head, missing the dramatic glances exchanged between Jack and the members of SG-10.
Another five hours passed before the Alpha site received a transmission from the SGC. The fifth chevron hadn't locked yet when Sam, Daniel, and a good portion of scientists and technicians poured out of their labs to hear any updates.
"This is General Hammond. The alien contagion has been contained and treated …"
SG-1 sat in the mess hall at Stargate Command shoveling in the first hot meal they'd had in over twelve hours. SG-10 and SG-6 were at adjacent tables enjoying the same luxury. In the frenzy of trying to research an alien bacterium no one had seen or heard of before, the Alpha site hadn't been exactly welcoming.
"Still sorry we missed the action?" Daniel asked.
"No … No," Jack admitted. "I like my internal organs whole and functioning, thanks. But the whole sitting around while everyone else saves the day really sucks."
Lieutenant Conner of SG-6 snorted. "You're telling us."
The End