Chapter 7: Urgent
"Well, that was rather tasty!" Jonas said after finishing the last bite of his cherry crisp topped with sour cream.
"Yeah, I can tell you have been here too long when you start calling the commissary food tasty. And how do you manage to come up with those concoctions anyway? Sour cream on cherry pie? What is it with you?" Jack felt much better after the long afternoon they had had, and although he hadn't enjoyed his food nearly as much as Jonas had seemed to, his belly was full and that was all that he really cared about.
"You guys up for a game of Pictionary?" Sam asked. "There's not much else to do anyway. Besides, I don't feel quite as tired as I did last night, I think I could hang out for a little while tonight.. What do you guys say?"
"Sounds good to me!" The Colonel immediately jumped up from his spot against the couch to the cupboard with all of the games in it. Remembering what had happened the last time he had opened the cupboard, he carefully opened each door protectively standing behind each one...just in case.
While Jack was setting up the game, Jonas and Teal'c scooted themselves as close together as they could manage on the floor in front of the couch where Jack had been a moment earlier. As Sam was sitting down a little ways across from them Jonas responded to Sam's earlier statement.
"Yeah Sam I don't feel as tired either, why do you think that is?" Jonas wasn't very convincing as a loud yawn escaped his mouth.
"You were saying?" Sam smiled at Jonas and he returned the gesture. Sam continued.
"I think the effects of the EM fields are wearing off as the Cequarish predicted. See? We're actually able to sit only about ten feet apart now before the two fields attract. Before it was about fifty feet, then when we came back to the SGC it was about twenty, and it is gradually decreasing, and my guess is that the fields will just dissipate on their own. I think if we just..." She was effectively cut off by Jack.
"I THINK if we just play Pictionary and forget about our little dilemma for a while we will get through the night much easier. No more technical talk." He looked right at Sam. "That's an order there, Major. Understood?"
Sam pursed her lips and then decided that it was better to just smile at him, and she dutifully replied with an impatient "Yes sir".
"O'Neill. I am unfamiliar with this method of entertainment. What is the purpose of this game?" Teal'c was always interested in Earth Culture, and anything remotely entertaining always fascinated him. Jaffa had their own methods of entertainment, but the Tauri ways of entertaining themselves outweighed anything that the Jaffa or Goa'uld had to offer. Teal'c had gotten particularly fond of the television, and also of O'Neill's video games. 'Virtual combat' Jack had called the ones where there is a lot of gunfire and blood. Teal'c preferred Tetris, that was his favorite.
"Thanks Teal'c I was getting ready to ask the same question, how do we play?" Jonas pitched in.
"Okay here are the rules and objects of the game. We have two teams of two people. The first team draws a card from this pile." Jack picked up the cards to show Jonas and Teal'c. "The person who draws the card gets to draw the picture." Jack held up the pad of blank white paper and the pencil. "The other person on the team has to guess what is being drawn before the timer runs out. If the timer runs out before the correct guess is made, then the other team gets to draw. If you guess correctly you get a point. Whoever has the most points at he end wins! You guys okay with that?" Jack looked from Sam to Jonas to Teal'c.
"Fine sir, What are teams?" Asked Sam hopefully.
"You and me, and Teal'c and Jonas." Jack scooted over to where Sam was sitting.
"O'Neill, would it not be less of an advantage to divide the teams up differently?" Teal'c asked.
"Yeah Colonel, you and Sam have been on this planet all of your lives, and Teal'c and I have only been here for a little while. We probably don't have the experience at this game like you two might." Jonas was interrupted by Jack.
"Jonas, I have been stuck to you and on you and around you since we stepped through that gate yesterday, and it will be nice to have a break if you wouldn't mind. Besides, if you guys really get stuck, we can help you. How about we don't play for points, we just play for fun? What do say?" Jack was happy just to get to be on Sam's team, so he wouldn't look stupid losing against her.
"Okay that's fair enough. Can we go first?" Jonas said picking a card off of the pile without waiting for a reply from Jack.
"Be our guests" Jack smugly waved his hand at the game.
Jonas picked up the pad of paper and then began to draw. Sam flipped the timer over.
They all watched as Jonas drew a circle with two lines above it, and another circle with a box around it. Teal'c said nothing.
"Hey Teal'c aren't you going to guess?" Jack spoke up.
"Guess what O'Neill, there is nothing to guess. There is nothing distinguishable about anything on the piece of paper that Jonas is drawing on." Teal'c didn't look the least bit entertained.
"Thanks a lot Teal'c." Jonas stopped drawing.
"Well, we're off to a great start, don't you think..." All of the sudden Jack was rudely interrupted by the sound of the klaxons blaring about an unauthorized incoming wormhole.
"AW man, and we're stuck in here? We haven't had one of those in a while!"
Just then, the door opened, and the guard stood in the doorway.
"Colonel O'Neill sir. The General has requested that SG-1 be brought down to the gate-room. He said it is urgent, and that I am to escort you down immediately sir." Without waiting for another word, Jack was on his feet, followed by the rest of his team, one by one so they wouldn't get stuck. Jack was good this time and didn't pull anymore tricks on the way downstairs.
They reached the gate room in no time at all, and were surprised to see four members of the Cequarish commission at the base of the ramp talking with General Hammond. The de-contamination unit was running protocol to determine if there were any energy signatures that there needed to be concern for. Before any accurate readings could be given, the equipment that the decontamination team was using blanked out and shut down.
Sam looked apologetically at the team as General Hammond ordered them to stand down.
"De-con team stand by, you will need to run your scans after the Cequarish depart." Looking up at the control room the General continued. "Close the blast doors and power down all non-essential equipment. Keep the Stargate and the Iris functional, and turn off everything else."
" SG-1 I believe you know the head members of the Cequarish Commission." General Hammond nodded towards their new visitors.
"Colonel it is with great urgency that we have ventured to your world." The lead commissioner was the only one to speak.
"Auah...Excuse me here folks, but how did you get through the iris without a de-activation code?" Jack asked skeptically. He looked around as all of the personnel in present company were trying not to trip over themselves, as the combined electromagnetic energy from SG-1 and the Cequarish threatened to send them all sprawling towards the ramp. Even the General was clinging to the side rail of the ramp with some difficulty.
"Oh yes. We monitored the signal that you sent through the Stargate, and replicated it. We were granted entrance with no difficulty. Have no worries, we are not here to harm you, nor would we ever share your information with anyone else. We have encountered numerous species whose technology and intelligence we have kept under safe guard for hundreds of years. Your information will be safe with us as well."
Just then one of the airmen really did trip over himself in an effort to get his footing from being pulled towards the ramp, and the only thing he could find to grab onto on the way down, were Colonel O'Neill's legs. The airman hit Jack square behind the knees, and there was no where for Jack to fall except for backwards onto the young airman behind him. The Colonel bounced off of the airman and landed on his butt at the base of the ramp, instantly stuck to the hard metal surface. He looked over at the airman struggling to haul himself up with little success. Then he looked up at General Hammond and the rest of his team as they were trying very hard not to break into a fit of laughter. The Cequarish looked at Jack and the Airman as if they had never seen such a display of odd behavior. Jack got slowly to his knees and then to his feet as the Airman did the same. When the young man turned around to face the 2IC of the base, Jack recognized him as the same airman that he'd yelled at the day before who kept running into the back of him.
Jack's face turned red, and with every ounce of professionalism he could muster, spoke to the almost cowering young subordinate.
"Airman, we seem to be having some communication issues here. Yesterday I told you that if you ran into the back of me one more time, there would be consequences, right?" The airman shook his head slowly one time up and down, not looking directly into Jack's eyes.
"Yes Sir." was all he said.
Continuing on in his most officer-like and pseudo-calm voice Jack said "Then I believe there are some latrines that need attending to right now, wouldn't you agree?"
"Yes SIR!" The airman quickly saluted and beat a hasty retreat. Everyone else was watching with amusement as the scared airman bolted out of the Gate room as fast as he could manage.
Sam looked at Jack with a 'was that really necessary?' look, and Jack stuck up his nose and puffed out his chest in a way that could only come with the decree of power and rank. Jack simply turned his attention back to the Cequarish and General Hammond.
"So you were saying that you had some urgent business for us to help you with?" General Hammond was great at getting right back down to business.
The lead commissioner spoke up again. "Yes, we are in need of medical technology. Unfortunately, allowing your race into our facility has introduced some sort of very communicable disease to the personnel that are stationed within the observatory. Nothing we have available to us has been able to provide a solution, and we are afraid that this disease will be spread into the local populous. You must come back with us so that we may perform analysis to determine the cause of this illness."
Sam spoke up for the first time. "We have encountered exactly this type of situation before. We have equipment capable of determining what the cause of the illness may be, and hopefully we have the solution to your problem. What do you say General? I think Janet is perfectly capable of finding out what's going on, and well, it was sort of our fault anyway. We should go sir, especially if we want to make these folks our new allies." Sam waited for his response.
"Very well. SG-1, and ONLY SG-1 are permitted to return to the planet with Dr. Frasier. I can't risk anymore of my personnel coming back home with the after effects that you four have shown for the last couple of days. Get geared up, you have a go."
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