Title: Out of Control

Chapter: 4

An hour before SG-1 arrives on Kaldia…

The strangers that released Jack and his team stepped through the gate. The world they arrived on was quite dark. The only light available came from the stars that poked through the canopy of the forest and the gate behind them.

The dark-haired woman scanned the trees. Soon she spied the village just down the path. "Any idea what planet we're on?" she asked.

Her companion with a southern accent stepped to her side. "Negative." He thought for a moment, then said, "I reckon we should split up. We'll cover more ground that way."

She nodded in response. "I'll take the village." She nodded to one of the muscled men to join her. Another man joined the first as they separated. The remaining two stayed behind to secure the gate.

"Vala," the southern-sounding man called as he moved. "Be careful. This guy's good."

"You don't have to tell me twice, Mitchell," she said, never turning or stopping.

When Vala and her man arrived at the village, it was already asleep. It must be the middle of the night here. The two of them split up and combed the village for half an hour, coming up empty. It was very possible that their mark was inside one of these buildings, but there was no way to be sure unless they woke up the whole village. However, that would likely give the uniformed man enough warning to get away clean.

She didn't like the way this was going. They were only supposed to follow him through the modified wormhole and bring him back. No one said anything about having to interact with the locals, especially Jack. Too many factors were slipping out of her control. Too many things could be changed beyond recognition. The situation was not being contained, as Cameron would put it in his military lingo. Not well at all.

She only hoped they could prevent him from doing whatever the hell he came here to do.

"Vala."

"Go ahead, Mitchell."

"Trail's gone cold. Regroup at the gate."

"Acknowledged." She signaled her man and they headed back for the gate.

Within minutes, Vala's third of the team joined Mitchell's. "I've been thinking," he muttered as she approached. His black-haired companion cocked her head, prompting him to continue. "Isn't it a strange coincidence that we follow this joker to a planet where the original SG-1 is operating?"

"Didn't I just have a conversation about coincidences with Jack?"

"See now, that's just it. I don't really believe in coincidences much myself. And I sure as hell know you don't either."

She tilted her head in agreement and smiled wistfully. "So what are you saying?"

"Well, given the fact that SG-1 nearly got squashed in what we know to be an old Gou'ald facility complete with standard booby traps, it is highly likely that our buddy over there set off one of those traps."

"So he's after SG-1."

"Looks like it."

"It would make sense. Ba'al said something about 'getting his revenge' before he was extracted. Perhaps this was it. It was his facility that started this whole fiasco after all."

"Gawd this just gets worse and worse."

"So fearless leader, what now?"

Cameron ran a hand over his face. "We may need to find SG-1."

"And do what, Cameron? Tell them the truth? If they haven't already met our local counterparts then there won't be any reason for them to believe us. Especially not after the treatment we just gave them."

"Which I still don't think was necessary." Vala glared at him. The argument over whether past actions were appropriate would have to be saved for another day. "Look, we either find our mark or find SG-1."

One of the men they brought along spoke up. "Sir, if I may… our mission is to retrieve the target. Given the sensitive nature of this mission, aren't we supposed to avoid all contact with the 'locals'?" Cameron looked to the marine. He was a husky fellow and good in combat. He held his ground as the Colonel stared at him. Eventually, the commanding officer sighed.

"Alright, alright." He looked everyone in the eye. "Suggestions, anyone?"

Another marine spoke. "We couldn't find the mark in the village. We should check the woods, deeper in."

Vala nodded her head in agreement. "Sounds good to me."

"Fine, let's go. Harris, Beeman, your turn to guard the gate." The marines that had accompanied Cameron and Vala earlier nodded. "Fan out and keep your eyes open people."

They proceeded to search the woods once more, but given the sheer size of the forest and even the planet, Cameron doubted whether their efforts would be worth it. Could have used the entire SGC on this one. But he knew the consequences of bringing more personnel into it would be too difficult to avoid. No, they had sent a six-man team for a reason. They were just lucky that none of their local counterparts were around to see them now.

Within half an hour of searching, Beeman called in. "Sir, we've got gate activity." A pause. "Sir, it's SG-1!" he whispered.

"Damn," Cameron said to himself. Over the radio, "Do not reveal your position. They can't know we're here."

"Yessir."

Mitchell radioed quietly to one of the marines nearby. "Yates, how far from the gate are we?"

"'Bout two and a half klicks, sir."

"We probably won't run into them soon," Vala offered via radio.

"Let's hope. Leonard, anything yet?"

"Negative, sir," the fourth marine responded.

"This is impossible," Mitchell muttered to himself. They may have their target out-manned and out-gunned, but he had them out-forested. As they walked further into the woods, he had an uneasy feeling. Something was not right. Nothing about this was right, in fact. What were they doing in the deep, dark woods looking for a needle in a haystack for? For all they knew the target had gated off to another planet before they arrived. He nearly slapped his head at the possibility. They had absolutely nothing, nothing, to go on. It didn't help that the original SG-1 was the reason they lost the guy in the first place.

No, you can't blame them. They simply didn't know any better. I would trust a guy in a uniform over a guy in leather myself if I didn't know any better.

More minutes passed. "Cameron," Vala's quiet voice sounded over the radio. "I have a doubt."

"So do I."

"If this guy's after SG-1 like you suspect, then perhaps we should go and make sure they're alright."

"Now you want to find SG-1?" he said, incredulous.

"Well, they're here now aren't they? We aren't getting anywhere with these trees."

"Obviously."

"Yes, obviously. He isn't here, Cameron."

Mitchell sighed. This was one of those times where he did not feel in control. It didn't happen much anymore, at least not as much as it did when he first took command of SG-1, but damn, this was serious. Something about Vala's so-called doubt rang true. "Beeman, Harris, any sign of… anything?"

"No, sir, not since SG-1 arrived."

"We may just have to wait 'til morning and then…"

"Sir, we hear gunfire!"

"What?" Cameron turned right around and started running back the way he came. "From where?"

"Not sure, sir. I think… it might be coming from the village. SG-1 was headed straight there."

"Stay with the gate, marines. I repeat, stay with the gate! We're on our way!" With that, the four who were previously searching the woods now joined together in an all-out run. But they were nearly three klicks away; the odds of coming to SG-1's aid in time were slim.

A/N: Thanks for reading!