Disclaimer: I do not own anything, and I mean anything, affiliated with Stargate SG-1! I just wanted to take the team out to play. :-)

My muse needs a swift kick in the pants! I've been trying for days to write the next chapter of my Harry Potter fic "Finally" (I even know what is going to happen in it), but everything ends up hideous!!! All I can seem to spit out are Stargate stories. Not that I mind them, I just usually prefer to understand a series more before I write about it. I haven't even finished watching the first season yet… Not that I haven't skipped around and seen a few other episodes – I'm a Jack/Sam shipper after all. You can't expect me to wait forever to see their best moments. ;-)

So, here goes. I was going to leave this on its own – as the first Stargate fic I've written that has nothing to do with an actual episode – but I decided that it would also work well as a continuation of "Half Life." Please, I beg of you, let me know if I've done a good job with the characters. I've still got the training wheels on, after all!

Sam fought the brief disorientation she always felt after traveling through the gate. Swallowing heavily, she wondered if it would ever fade. Not likely, she admitted. She blinked in the harsh sun, and glanced around. The scientist in her noticed the bright sky, the rather stunted growth of trees that lingered about a dozen feet from the stargate, and the strange cries of animals that emanated from the undergrowth.

The Air Force Captain in her noticed that her team was nowhere in sight.

The wormhole closed behind her with a gust of sound, and Sam nearly jumped. "Guys?" she called out, telling herself she only imagined the faint edge of panic in her voice. "Colonel O'Neill?" Something chirped behind her, and she spun to stare straight through the gate. There was nothing there. "Daniel?" The dais constructed here was taller than most they had discovered, and the forest trees were so short that she was almost able to see over them. Nothing was stirring in the shadows there. "Teal'c?"

She climbed cautiously down the stairs, P-90 at the ready. She started a slow circle, her eyes alert for any sign of danger. A faint rustling from behind caused her to turn sharply. Sam caught a glimpse of a brown face surrounded by tufts of unruly dark hair, but she was not allowed the luxury of staring at the native for long. Something soft and wet was thrown in her face, and she suddenly found herself unable to breathe. She gagged as the thing slithered into her mouth and lodged in her windpipe, thoroughly blocking off all of her oxygen. Dropping her weapon, Sam clawed at her throat as she fell to her knees. No sound escaped from her lips – calling out for help was useless. Her heartbeat was pounding a painful rhythm in her head, and she realized she had only moments before it would likely stop. With shaking fingers she unstrapped her helmet as spots danced in her vision. But before she could bring her hand to her mouth to try and pull out the strangling substance, her strength evaporated, and everything went dark.

xXx

"Carter…? Carter… you alright?" Sam had to push down a vague sense of disappointment. She could hear Jack's voice, but the warmth and pressure of his hands on her face was missing. He wasn't even shaking her by the shoulders. All things considered, she thought – remembering their kiss two weeks ago – that's probably for the best…

"C'mon, Carter – get up! That's an order!" Sam gritted her teeth against the pain in her head as she tried to ignore his incessant nagging.

"Working on it, sir," she called out weakly. She opened her eyes and glanced to the left to see Jack slump against the set of iron bars the separated them in relief. He straightened up a mere second later – Daniel and Teal'c must be nearby – though the concern for her never quite left his eyes. "What happened?" Sam brought one hand up to massage her head, surprised by the vivid green vine that was firmly wrapped around her wrist. She lifted her other arm and found one there as well. Her brow furrowed. "Where are we?" Sitting up gingerly, Sam followed the separate trails of green to a vine covered wall just behind her.

"Daniel?" Jack turned to his left, and Sam could make out another set of bars. The archeologist was behind those, with Teal'c in his own cage just behind Daniel. "Any ideas?"

"Uh… I'm guessing it's a prison." Sam could see Jack roll his eyes.

"And here I thought all these bars and plants were for decoration." When Daniel didn't elaborate, Jack gestured toward him with one hand – Sam noticed a vine swing from his own wrist as he did so. "Got any more details you can give us Oh-Observant-One?"

Daniel raised his eyebrows, as if the answer was obvious, and readjusted his glasses. "Well… there don't appear to be any markings or writing, so I have no idea what kind of people built this place, but my best guess is that the primitives we encountered before didn't do it."

"Indeed," came Teal'c voice from farther off. Sam shivered as she remembered choking on some foul substance. She hugged her knees to her chest, still too tired to stand.

"Guesses as to what race the primitives" Jack drew quotation marks in the air with his fingers, "come from?"

"They are humanoid," Daniel said, squinting as he recalled his own short encounter, "but I don't think they originated from Earth. They seem to have more in common with the Nox than any other species we've discovered – a certain connection to nature, if you will." He gestured to the plant draped wall behind him, and his bindings rippled.

"Yeah, about that," Sam threw in, "What's the story on the lovely bracelets we're all sporting?"

"They seem to allow us free movement in our cells, but prevent us from reaching the door." At Teal'c's succinct explanation, Sam looked up sharply. Sure enough, there was a solid door not three feet in front of her, made from the same metal material the bars consisted of. I must be a more tired than I thought, to have missed that! She wiped a hand over her face; something that did not go unnoticed by her CO.

"You alright, Carter?"

No, she thought, I'm exhausted any my head is killing me. "Fine, sir." Sam had learned long ago, a bald-faced lie was always preferable to admitting weakness. Especially if you were a female officer.

"Uh, huh," Jack murmured – seeing through her immediately. He opened his mouth – no doubt to deliver some smart retort – but the sound of footsteps made him fall silent. Sam stood, too quickly, and wavered for a moment before leaning against the bars for support. She could feel Jack, mere inches away, and struggled to keep her breathing calm as she physically restrained herself from reaching for him. All four of their doors opened simultaneously, and each prisoner saw themselves confronted by the native that had attacked them. They had murky brown eyes, that seemed to be nearly black, and were sparsely clothed in a rough cloth that contained figments of leaves and dirt. The hair that covered their heads was dark and bushy; it seemed to start just at the edge of their faces – though the rest of their bodies seemed remarkably smooth and hairless. Their feet and arms were bare – their dark skin standing out sharply against the cold metal of the prison walls. The dark faced arrivals each waved a hand, causing the bindings to become taut. Sam felt herself fly back toward the rear wall, but the pain she expected never came. It seemed the plants helped to soften the blow. Her relief was short lived, however, as new tendrils began to snake their way around her arms, torso, legs, waist, and shoulders. She struggled, and deduced from the soft grunting coming from her left, that her teammates were doing the same. Each of them eventually decided their attempts were in vain, and sagged in momentary acceptance of the situation.

Their captors, who surprisingly seemed to match each of them in height and weight, stepped into their respective cells. As she looked at them, Sam couldn't help but feel a twinge of bitterness – her's was easily the smallest of the lot. He looked at her, eyes narrowed, but when he spoke, it was not with his voice. Instead, Sam heard the words echoing in her mind.

You are… leader?

She blinked. "What? No…"

"I'm the leader," Jack said. Sam couldn't even turn her head, so effectively was she bound, but it seemed the Colonel had heard him, too. "My name is Colonel Jack O'Neill of the –"

I will speak only to this one, the native interrupted.

"Why?" She couldn't help it – Jack had told her before that her curiosity would likely get her killed, but this was too unorthodox to go unexplained.

Your size denotes you to be the greatest of these.

Sam felt her jaw drop in shock. Daniel called out from two cells away, "Of course! Remember the trees? How everything seems shorter here? Perhaps smaller stature is considered a mark of power and authority!"

"I don't think we're in Kansas anymore," Jack murmured.

The native held up what appeared to be the same slimy substance that had nearly killed Sam by the dais. Vreshnac sends his greetings as well, and apologizes for his… overzealousness earlier. He was anxious to learn about you, and in his haste he failed to consider the possible consequences.

"What the hell is that thing?" called the Colonel from her left. Apparently he could watch what was going on in her cell, though Sam wondered how. Perhaps he was not seen as much of a threat compared to the woman next to him, and as such, was not as tightly bound. Sam nearly laughed at the absurdity of it all, but her memories of the quivering mass before her were enough to keep her mouth shut tight.

The leader sent a disgusted look toward Jack, as if offended. He took one step closer to the bars. You will not speak again unless addressed. Apparently knowing he had crossed a line, Jack fell silent – though Sam could imagine perfectly well just what he wanted to say to the man. Looking back at her, the native continued. I am Ardain – Chief – and this is my counsel and friend, Vreshnac. Sam decided she should take the initiative, before Jack's mouth got him into any more trouble.

"What is it you want with us?"

For the moment, only to meet you. The Marim deliberate tonight. We will discuss your future then. He turned to leave. But I feel to warn you – outsiders are not greatly tolerated, and they are certainly never trusted.

Once Ardain had left, the other natives stepped from the cells and waved their hands as the doors closed. Sam stumbled forward as the plants suddenly released her, leaving only the two vines trailing loosely from her wrists. She turned to the bars, glancing at each of her teammates in turn. Her gaze stopped on Jack – the concern he held in his eyes had doubled since the last time he looked at her.

"What do we do now?" she asked them all softly. Teal'c frowned, Daniel's brow furrowed, and Jack shook his head slowly.

"I have no idea…"

That was so not how I planned for this to go, but what to you think?