Celestial Navigation

Luckily, it hadn't taken Carter long to point out that it was statistically improbable that Jack was the only one to make the damn nightlight turn on and systematically test everyone.

Unluckily, only Jack and Dean had had any success in getting it to light up. Which had Carter muttering about genetic markers and blood tests. That in turn had had Winchester ready to bolt before Jack had vetoed it, or at least put it off until later.

As it stood, only Jack, General Hammond, and Dr. Fraiser knew about Dean's 'condition' with Pierce and the rest of SG-15 slated to find out as soon as Dean gave the okay. Even that many people had been a struggle to get Dean to agree to and Jack had basically had to get Singer to bully him into it. A single person at USNA, then a second at MARSOC had had both Dean and John nearly hyperventilating. Blood tests were definitely not on Dean's agenda.

Still, now that they knew that both of them could activate the panel it meant that it was Dean that had to stand there with his hand on the thing and not Jack. This meant that Jack could stand back and look at the pretty pattern the lights made. He was absolutely certain it was a star map, the telescope on his roof wasn't just to spy on his neighbours, and Daniel had already found Ancient numbers embedded in the design which had previously been invisible. Which led Jack to only one conclusion.

"Celestial navigation."

Only Carter took any notice, "Sir?" He spared her and Teal'c a glance as the science team bustled around them.

"Celestial navigation. The action of finding one's way by observing the sun, moon, and stars. Damn handy when you've been shot down in a jungle." The only problem was, he was fairly sure they were going to have to do it backwards. Instead of finding his own location, he was going to have figure out the location of something else. Thank God he had Carter. "Winchester was right, it is a map."

It had taken Carter all of ten minutes to figure out a program to let her calculate the exact GPS coordinates of something using the principles of celestial navigation. Which was kind of irritating seeing as how it once took him an hour to figure out his own coordinates after a crash landing. Of course he hadn't had a computer at the time, he reassured himself, just a sextant and a half burnt almanac. Now they just had to wait another ten hours or so for the right time of night, or as Jack liked to call; it star-rise.

Since this was once again an exploration mission he'd sent the science team home, well, that and they were downright annoying. He'd also sent back SG-15, with the exception of Winchester. He didn't have an excuse for that other than that Dean had activated the star map thingy too, he just wanted some time with his boy. Dean had been a little off since he'd arrived on base and Jack hadn't had the time to force it out of him yet.

"Alright kids, who's for poker?"

Dean was playing poker on an alien world. Which just went to show that everything was the same in the military no matter where you were. He was now roughly three hours into the 'hurry up and wait' portion of this mission, this came almost directly after the 'running and heavy lifting' portion with a brief interlude of 'what the hell?'

The funny thing was, it wasn't all that different from his life as a Hunter. Except, you know, better pay and three squares a day. Not that he was thinking about Hunting, because that led to thinking about Sammy and the massive fight they'd had on his last leave. It wasn't like he didn't want Sam to go to college, he just wanted him to be safe. But before he knew it Sam was ripping into him and dad about being normal and Dean being allowed to leave, and he'd tried to explain that he hadn't wanted to go but that had just made it worse. Led to being called 'daddy's little soldier' and told never to call Sammy again. "Don't call, Dean." The last words he'd heard from his brother in nearly a year. But, he wasn't thinking about that. Because he, Colonel O'Neill, Major Carter and Teal'c were playing poker and it was lucky that Teal'c was an alien and only just learning because damn did that guy have a good poker face.

There was something wrong with the kid, Jack mused as he considered his discard. A tightness round the eyes, like maybe he was in pain and hiding it. But there was no way he could have managed to get himself injured since coming through the gate. Which meant it was another kind of hurt altogether. Jack searched his memory for the last time he'd seen the kid look like that. It wasn't hard to find. A fifteen year old Dean, bruised and bloodied, thinking he was evil because he'd killed a man who was trying to kill him. Nothing Jack had said had been enough, not when the kid's dad had had a brain-mouth disengage right at the time Dean needed him. Not for the first time, Jack suppressed the urge to find John Winchester and beat him with a stick. Of course, Sammy was another option. Dean's little brother was pretty much the centre of his universe. Jack had wanted to kick him a few times too. It was bad enough that a derisive comment from Sam could send Dean into an agonising spiral of self-doubt, but the youngest Winchester didn't even notice when he did it. So, yeah, there were a couple of options.

Jack wanted to sit Dean down and ferret the information out of him. What was that old proverb? If you save a man's life you are responsible for it? Not in Jack's experience. It was definitely the other way around. Dean had saved Jack's life and it was Jack's responsibility to make sure the kid had a good one. Of course, if he asked Dean what was wrong there was little chance of him actually getting a reasonable answer. He was more likely to get a flip comment about chick flick moments. Not to mention that if he pulled Dean aside he'd attract the attention of his team. A curious Carter was the worst thing to have on your hands when you were keeping secrets. No he couldn't ask Dean. He'd have to wait for Dean to bring it up. Wouldn't that be a chilly day in hell?

Maybe Bobby knew something? That was it. He'd call Bobby when they got back Earth-side. If nothing else he'd be able to spread the worry around a little. Damn Winchesters, always complicating your life.

Dean tossed another M&M into the pot and did a quick visual sweep of the area. "Erm, Colonel." He gradually eased to a standing position, resting his hand on his side arm. O'Neill understood immediately, as did Carter and Teal'c who went from completely relaxed to fully alert in a microsecond. At the bottom of the waterfall were several figures, picking their way delicately among the rocks.

"Well, where in the hell did they come from?" O'Neill sounded exasperated but not unduly alarmed so Dean left his weapon holstered.

Ready to draw at a moment's notice, he scanned the area, detecting more movement behind a cluster of rocks, "Over there sir. Looks like a cave maybe."

O'Neill shaded his eyes against the glare of the low hanging sun, "Huh. Well I guess we should go say hello."

Carter threw him a sidelong glance, "You don't think that'll scare them sir? I mean, they obviously thought we'd all left with the others. They haven't shown themselves the other times we were here."

O'Neill cocked his head and Dean got the feeling he was about to be dragged into something, "Are you saying I'm intimidating Carter? Winchester! Do I seem intimidating to you?"

Dean sighed, he'd forgotten what it was like being with Jack, kind of like being around Uncle Bobby but with more sarcasm, "No sir. You're a teddy bear. A grumpy, irascible teddy bear."

Jack hit him with a look of feigned hurt and turned back to the strange people gathering at the foot of the waterfall.

They hadn't noticed the SG team yet and were dispersed along the river edge. Dean's eyes could pick out the exquisite detailing in their clothes, the men in short skirts banded with brightly coloured designs, the women in longer skirts and tunics. They were a riot of colour with bright feathers and animal skins adding to the decoration, the spray off the waterfall glistening on bare skin sheened red with the radiance of the sun.

He didn't get the chance to see them closer.

Just as the team started moving down the slope, there was a distant thrum. And then again, seven times in quick succession. It was followed by the whoosh of an activating Stargate and then, almost instantaneously by a high pitched whine. Several small cylindrically winged craft came bursting through the event horizon, vectoring up and away as soon as they passed through.