"He says there's some kind of demon in those hills." Dr. Daniel Jackson said blandly, turning back from the nervously nodding native guy. His soft blue eyes were steady and non-committal as he peered over his glasses at his disbelieving teammate, then swung back with brows knit.

"A demon?" Col. Jack O'Neill raised his eyebrows at the nodding guy, then looked back at his translator of all things cultural. "Daniel?"

Daniel had that one-eyebrow raised, one eye squinting, intensely concentrating thing going on.

Jack hated that look.

"Demon, Daniel?" He prompted again.

"I have no idea, Jack." Daniel said. "But give me a minute before you start shooting, OK?" Daniel started jabbering in Alienese at the guy again. Jack sighed and keyed his radio.

"Carter?"

"Go ahead, Col." Major Samantha Carter's voice sounded tinny and metallic; and yet somehow, still perky. Jack had no desire to know how she managed that.

"We found a guy. Daniel's talking to him now."

"Teal'c and I will head back to your position, sir. So far, we haven't seen any traces of either SG-13 or whatever it was that they ran into."

"Take your time, Carter. Daniel's guy has a theory, but it sounds like he's been eating the local equivalent of wacky weed. The guy's making zero sense. Keep your eyes open, Carter. O'Neill out." Jack turned back to Daniel. "Does he have any idea what happened to SG-13? Any idea at all? And don't tell me they were eaten by a demon."

"O.K. I won't." Daniel paused. "They were captured by a demon."

"Right."

"And they haven't been seen since."

" Great."

"But no-one knows if they've actually been eaten or not."

"Sweet. Just" Jack waved his hand impatiently. "Just find out where we need to go and let's go there, all right?"

Daniel turned back and launched into a rapid-fire dialogue with the nervous native. Jack scowled at everyone he could see, then squinted up at the sun, lighter and more lemony soft than the one he'd left a couple of hours before. He was putting his sunglasses back on when his radio squawked.

"Sir, this is Carter. We'vewe seem to have found something."

"What, Carter? What'dja find?"

"Well sirit seems to be a Marine, sir."

Jack paused. Daniel looked at him. He looked at Daniel. They both looked at the radio.

"A what, Major?"

"A Marine, sir."

Jack and Daniel traded raised brows.

"Not one of ours, I take it?"

"No, sir. He doesn't seem to knowColnol, he doesn't seem to realize that he's notat homesir."

Daniel said slowly to Jack, "What's a random Marine doing here?"

"And how the hell did he get here?" Raising his radio he keyed it once more.

"Bring him in, Carter. I've got some questions for him. O'Neill out."

The Marine turned out to be a nice young man in black military fatigues. His brown hair was precisely buzzed and his eyes were a startling shade of crystal blue. He marched in ahead of Major Carter and Teal'c, hands on his head as if he were a prisoner. He kept his eyes straight ahead and stopped when told.

"You can drop your arms, kid." Jack informed him casually. "You're not a prisoner."

The Marine dropped his arms but stayed at strict attention.

"Marines." Sighed Jack. He walked around the young man, sizing him up. "What's your name and rank, soldier?"

"Sergeant Graham Miller, US Marine Corps, SIR!"

"And how'd you get to this planet, Sgt. Miller?"

"I am not at liberty to answer that question, SIR!"

Jack blinked. "Sgt., I'm a Col. Do you know what a Col. is?" He looked inquiringly at the young man.

Beads of sweat were starting to make their way down the Marine's forehead, but he held his ground.

"Yes, SIR!"

"And this soldier here is a Major." He waved a hand at Carter. "Do you know what a Major is?"

"Yes, SIR!"

"And Teal'c here, he was First Prime before he joined our little outfit. Hell, the only one who doesn't outrank you here, Sgt. Miller, is Daniel, and given the fact that he's probably ten times smarter than you, I'm going to say he outranks you by sheer force of brain power." Jack paused glaring directly into the Marine's face. "So, I'm going to ask you again, soldier. How'd you get on planet?"

"Begging the Col.'s pardon, SIR, but I am not at liberty to answer that question, SIR!"

Jack was getting irritated.

"Look, Sgt., I'm not going to threaten you with loss of rank, or even time served. The last time there was another Stargate on Earth it was in the hands of the Russians." His voice dropped to an angry hiss. "So you're this close to getting court-martialed and slapped with a treason charge, is that clear?"

"Sir, yes SIR!" The kid was shaking now, but he didn't break.

"All right, kid" Jack was winding up to really let loose on the young Sgt. Daniel cleared his throat.

"Jack?"

Jack spun around. "WHAT, Daniel?"

"He's obviously under orders not to reveal certain things."

"Yeah, and I'm ordering him TO reveal certain things, things that are close to my heart, things that are matters of national security"

"And he's not telling you, Jack." Daniel raised his voice slightly to compensate for Jack's tendency towards emotional deafness. "But he could tell us a lot of other things. Like what this "demon" actually is, for instance?"

Sam Carter saw the young Marine's eyes flicker to Daniel and back. He seemed to be reacting to the word "demon."

"You know what it is." She said suddenly. Jack and Daniel swung back to look at them, the tall sweating Marine and the small blond Major. Sam had the young soldier fixed with that clear blue, wide-eyed accusatory stare that always made Jack feel incredibly guilty, whether he'd done anything or not.

The kid was in for it now.

Sam went on. "You know what this"demon" really is." She got closer to the soldier, getting into his personal space much the same way Jack had done earlier. "Tell us. Help us to help these people, Sgt. Miller. Help us help you."

Sgt. Miller swallowed. Everybody was still for a moment.

The Marine looked at Sam for the first time, a pleading look on his face. "Request permission to speak freely, ma'am?"

Sam nodded slowly, her eyes direct but compassionate. "Go ahead, Sgt."

Sgt. Miller looked around, taking in all four members of SG-1 and coming back to Sam. "Ma'am, I sympathize with your situation, " Jack made a rude noise but the soldier raised his voice slightly and continued, "I want to help you more than I can sayhell!" he swung around and glared at Jack. "I have six members of my cadre stuck in that Hostile's cave

"Cave?" Daniel interjected quickly, "What cave?"

"I would give anything to get them back. You must know that"

"Excuse me, " Daniel raised his voice, "what cave, exactly, are you talking about?"

"Sir, the hostile's cave, sir." The young soldier now looked confused, "the one behind the portal"

"Portal?" Sam said.

"The portal! The portal!" Sgt. Miller was bewildered. "How else did you get here?"

There was a silence.

"What does thislook like, Sergeant?" Jack said firmly.

The Marine suddenly realized that he was talking far more than he had planned. He pressed his lips together and stared at a point just over Jack's shoulder. Sg-1 traded glances. It was obvious they'd gotten all they were going to get from this soldier until he talked to someone else. Someone who was clearly not them.

"For cryin' out loud.." Jack had passed irritated and was entering pissed.

"Why don't you tell us what we need to know, Sgt." Carter kept her voice level.

"Because I don't know who, or what you are, ma'am." The Sgt.'s voice was emphatic but his clear blue eyes pleaded for understanding.

"What?" Jack ground out, taken aback.

Sgt. Miller ignored him, staying focused on the Major.

"If you are really United States Armed Forces, then you should understand. I am in hostile territory with no back-up, being interrogated by unknown forces. I can NOT answer any questions pertaining to my current mission until I'm cleared by my superior officer." He turned his gaze to Jack, a challenging look on his face. "You keep talking about "planets," sir. I have no information that tells me that I am not currently still on Earth."

"What!" Jack and Sam exchanged glances. Teal'c raised an eyebrow. Daniel looked down and away for a moment, then shook his head slightly and looked back.

"And furthermore, " Sgt. Miller went on after a moment. "If you really are on a mission here"

"Careful, Sgt." Jack's brown eyes were cold now. The Sgt. paused, locking eyes with Jack.

"If you are on a mission here, I can neither help nor hinder your mission until I get confirmation that it falls within my mission parameters."

There was silence all around.

"Take him into custody, Carter." Jack said calmly. "You and Teal'c watch him until we make contact with Hammond. Daniel and I will catch up."

"Yes, sir." Carter said, glancing at Teal'c. The big Jaffa inclined his head gracefully and the three set off for the SG-1 base camp.

Daniel waited until he judged the others were out of hearing range.

"Jack" he began.

"No, Daniel." Jack said immediately. "There are four of our men and, apparently, six Marineslost somewhere"

"Jack, I agree with you."

"and that kid knows where. He's going to tell me where or by god" Jack stopped. "You agree with me?"

"And how often does that happen?" Daniel said. "But by his own admission there are six of his own in trouble as well." He stood and waved the local back over. "We've got to find out where this "demon." is holding them and that Marine is our only link."

He started to talk to the local again, but they were interrupted by the sound of gunfire. It sounded like a P-90. Staff blasts were also audible. Jack and Daniel exchanged alarmed looks and took off running.