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Four Eyes

Chapter One

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Day One
0800 Hours

"Okay, weather boys and...Major," Colonel Jack O'Neill proffered with a sweep of his hand as his team stepped down from the Stargate. "Welcome to PX...PDQASAP. Land of," he looked around, "...Trees, rocks, and hurricanes."

His team got to work quickly. Major Samantha Carter and Daniel Jackson busied themselves with the equipment on the sled. Boxes and packs with wires and gadgets and "doohickeys" that Jack didn't even want to begin to understand. If it didn't shoot, zap, or catch fish, he wasn't interested.

Teal'c joined Jack in standing watch on the hillside, scanning their surroundings for any possible danger. Jack's eyes focused on the ocean that lay one mile to the east. The morning skies above it had a slightly orange tinge.

"Carter?" He barked.

"Yes, sir?"

"You're sure that hurricane won't hit for seventy-two hours. Right?"

Sam followed his gaze to the ocean. She took off her sunglasses so that she could see the true colors of the sky. She frowned. "Well, if we knew for certain, there would be no need for us to come here, sir."

Jack growled. Why couldn't scientists ever give him a simple yes or no?

"But, yes," Sam continued, "All of the data from the UAV indicated to our meteorology team that we would have seventy-two hours to set up this monitoring equipment and get home before the storm hits."

Jack nodded, laughing to himself. Leave it to Carter to figure out exactly what he was thinking. The two of them had been so in synch lately, it was beginning to get scary.

"Where do we need to set all of this up?" Jack asked.

Sam pointed toward the small mountains directly to the west. "The UAV showed signs of several caves a few klicks from here at the base of those hills. We should be able to set everything up there and have good cover for the monitors. I just need to set up these three ground probes here first."

"Teal'c," Jack motioned with his head. "You wanna go check it out?" Teal'c nodded and started toward the caves.

Jack knew from their briefing yesterday that the UAV had found no signs of habitation or civilization on this planet. Which was a good thing, considering how Carter had described the coming hurricane as something beyond one of earth's Category Five storms. And that meant that this would be a simple "set up and hightail-it-home" mission. Then all the science geeks back at the SGC could "stream" all their weather data to their hearts' content from the safety of Cheyenne Mountain. Data that would hopefully help scientists on earth to better understand hurricanes.

But he also knew that his SG-1 team had a predilection for making "simple" missions become complicated real quick. He looked over to Carter. This mission was her baby. Daniel was here because he actually understood most of Carter's five hundred syllable words. He and Teal'c were just the guard dogs and equipment porters on this one. Not that he minded. He rather enjoyed the chance to just keep watch. No talkin' and making nice with the natives crap. Just watch. Watch Carter as she set things up. Watch Carter as she got all excited over some piece of equipment when it lit up. Watch Carter...

Oops. He hadn't realized that his feet had carried him over to where she was working. It was time to rearrange his thoughts and focus. He turned and began to really look at the planet. It was a nice place, actually. Peaceful. The air was fresh and clean. No signs that the Go'auld had ever been here...would be a nice place to go camping or something. Camping with Carter...Camping with Sam...

Sam bent over to open one of the equipment boxes as Jack remained behind her, still scanning their surroundings.

"Nice view," he mumbled.

"What, sir?" Sam glanced up from under her arm, not realizing that in her current position, her rear was fully presented to her CO.

Jack looked down to her as he began to repeat himself. "I said, 'nice view'..." He stopped as he saw Sam's eyes go wide. She stood up quickly and turned toward him. He raised his hands in his own defense.

"No! Not *that* view..." he stammered motioning toward her backside. Oops! Sam's eyes narrowed. "I mean...not that *that* isn't..."

"Jack..." Daniel smugly warned as he looked up from his own equipment, amused at Jack's embarrassment.

"Oh for crying out loud, people!" He threw up his hands and started pointing. "The mountains...the ocean! It's a freakin' nice view!"

"Yes, sir," Sam replied, trying not to blush herself.

Jack rolled his eyes and did the only thing he could. He stalked off, mumbling to himself, wishing there was something he could shoot.

And Daniel laughed.

**

Jack wandered about the hillside, although he did make sure to keep Carter and Daniel in view.

*Well, you walked right into that one, Jack ol' boy, didn't ya?*

He wasn't watching his feet, wasn't paying attention until there was a loud and ominous snap under his boot. He felt the reverberation from the break through his foot and up his leg.

He had way too much experience with booby traps and land mines to lift his foot from the ground. Instead, keeping his weight balanced, he slowly looked down to see exactly what trouble he was in this time. It wasn't a simple stick, but it also wasn't a land mine or a booby trap.

"What the hell?"

He was surprised, but at least it was safe to lift his foot again. He quickly spoke into his radio.

"Carter? You wanna head over here for a sec?"

There was a brief pause before her voice came back over the radio and into his earpiece, "Yes, sir. On my way."

She was hustling up to his side within minutes. "Sir?"

"I shot an arrow to the sky, it fell to earth, I know not why..." Jack spoke sarcastically and pointed to the object on the ground.

Sam's eyes widened in surprise and she squatted down to examine it.

"I thought this place was supposed to be uninhabited," Jack grumbled, his eyes darting across the tree line, ever suspicious.

"It was," she replied. "At least, that was the indication we got from the UAV we sent through the gate."

"Then please tell me how an Apache arrow just happened to be lying about? 'Cause I know that UAVs are never wrong..."

Sam picked up the arrow and was examining the sharp head and the feathers at the end of the broken shaft just as Daniel arrived, curious as ever. He saw the arrow and tilted his head.

"Jack? Why is Sam holding an Apache arrow?" he asked.

Sam immediately looked at Jack. How had he known the arrow was Apache?

"Gunsmoke fan," he shrugged at her.

"Marshal Dillon and Miss Kitty ruled," Sam remarked under her breath.

"And, Daniel, you tell me... I was minding my own business and then my boot found that..." Jack continued, albeit slightly smiling after Sam's comment.

As usual, Daniel was still trying to catch up amid his friends' asides. He held out his hand and Sam handed him the broken arrow. He stared at it closely, nudging his glasses up and down his nose until he found the proper focus. He lifted it to his nose and sniffed.

"Well, it was made recently. Certainly not a relic from the Wild West. Although, the arrow head itself might be considerably older. Interesting..." Daniel pondered.

"Right now, I'm only interested in where the bow and its shooter are... Teal'c!" He shouted as he saw the Jaffa exit the tree line.

Teal'c soon joined them. "I encountered no trouble finding the caves Major Carter spoke of. There is one that would appear suitable for our needs," he spoke calmly.

"Any sign of people? Go'aulds? Cowboys and Indians?" Jack asked.

"I saw no signs of anyone. Did you find something here?"

Jack simply pointed to Daniel and his new toy. Teal'c's jaw tightened slightly.

"Sir, if there are people here, we have to at least try and warn them about the hurricane," Sam interjected.

Jack sighed. His 2IC was right. But they'd be damn careful.

"Okay, campers. Let's get Carter's toys up to that cave on the double. Looks like we need to do a little neighborly visiting. Let's move out."

The team headed back toward the equipment. And even though Jack, Teal'c, and Sam all felt a little uneasy, they never spied the eyes that watched them from the cover of the tree tops.

***

It had taken the SG-1 team over an hour to move their equipment from the stargate to the cave. It had been tiring, but necessary work.

The cave was actually more of a tunnel. The ground at the opening was slanted up, a perfect natural barrier against flooding from the coming rains. The tunnel then sloped progressively downward from the entrance. They had gone some one hundred yards before Sam had deemed it safe for the instruments. The sensitive equipment would need the distance to protect it from the wind forces of the hurricane. Once everything was set up at this site, she would run sensor leads back up to the entrance.

But all of that would take time. And right now, their priority was finding and warning the possible denizens of this planet. And Jack was getting antsy.

"Sir, the equipment is secured and should be fine until I can get back to it," Sam reported.

"Then we're good to go," Jack nodded firmly. "Let's move out. And keep your eyes open. We don't know if these folks will appreciate our Welcome Wagon."

***

One quick radio message to General Hammond back at the SGC and one hour of exploring later, there had still been no sign of anyone or anything unusual. Jack had taken point, Teal'c and Daniel were spread in the middle, and Sam was watching their six.

Jack suddenly stopped. "Anybody hear that?" he asked.

"It sounds like rushing water. Maybe a river, sir," Sam replied.

The team followed the sound and found its source some two hundred yards to the south. A river shot down out of the hills and mountains, its power evident in the white caps that churned over the rocks and the fine mist that rose from the surface.

Daniel walked up to the edge and leaned over to stick his hand in.

"Be careful, Daniel," Jack warned. He'd already had visions of fishing the archaeologist out of the rapids.

"Yow! That's cold!" Daniel yelped as he shook the water from his hand.

"I should probably get a sample, sir," Sam observed.

"Sure. Knock yourself out, Major. It's a good time to break for some lunch anyway. And the view is nice," Jack innocently commented as he sat himself down on a nearby rock.

Sam dropped her pack and dug out a sample vial as the others pulled out their MREs. She walked over to the river's edge and carefully knelt down on the rocks.

She had obtained the water sample and was leaning back to seal the vial when she saw something out of the corner of her eye, across the river. Or, actually, just above it in one of the tree limbs that spanned the water. There was someone in the tree. Watching...

"Colonel?" She tried to call softly to get the others' attention, but the roar of the river was too loud.

The figure in the tree shifted.

"Sir!" She called a little louder. She carefully put the vial down and began to reach for her sidearm.

The figure moved again, but this time, something went wrong. The branch cracked from the weight...

Sam watched as the figure was exposed to full view. She was shocked to see that it was just a young boy. And the boy was now in serious trouble, clawing for a hand or foothold as the branch bowed beneath him. Then, there was a sickening crack and the limb broke entirely. The boy fell directly into the fast moving waters below.

"Colonel!" Sam yelled in horror. She jumped to her feet and was off like a shot. She didn't have time to look over her shoulder to make sure that Jack had heard her cry. She couldn't afford to take her eyes off of the boy as he bobbed up and down in the current. She had to keep track of him.

Then she saw her chance. Just ahead, a large rock jutted out into the river from the shoreline...

As she ran toward it, she fumbled with her belt, trying to get it and her gun off -- she had to get rid of the weight -- but it wouldn't cooperate. When she reached the rock, she simply unholstered her heavy sidearm and dropped it to the ground.

She scrambled onto the rock...

The boy shot past...

And Samantha Carter jumped in after him.

***