"Carter."
"Sir?"
"I have officially had enough of this."
Carter smiled briefly. Her hand still resting over the Colonel's forehead. It was shaking but not from the near arctic wind, or from the fear she had been feeling, nagging at her every fiber. But from laughter. Barely concealed, barely held back laughter.
"Me too, sir."
Jack's head bobbed once or twice under her hand before his eyes closed and he lost conciousness again.
Happy moment over, the silence starting to get to her again, Carter let her head droop and come to rest on her CO's collarbone.
"God." She sighed and all was soon black.
"Colonel!"
"Major?"
"You're here sir."
"Congratulations."
"I thought you were on vacation, sir."
Jack paused for a moment, looking down purposefully at the full BDU's, P-90 and utility vest he wore before looking back to his 2IC.
"Yes, Carter. Vacation."
Sam smiled and shook her head, catching a glimpse of the telltale smirk before O'Neill turned to take the last few steps into the gateroom. She followed to see the last of the MALP dissappear through the event horizon.
"Colonel O'Neill, Major Carter. You have twenty-four hours to retrieve the samples of soil from P58C29, good luck."
"Thank you, General. Will do." Jack smirked as he righted his sun glasses and squinted pointlessly at the gate. The two walked together through the shimmering pool and came out much the same way on the other side.
P58C29
O'Neill took a few coursory glances of the planet before he let the nose of the P-90 drop.
"Nice place." He commented as he stepped towards the MALP looking it over carefully for an damage.
"From the UAV scans sir, I'd be willing to retire here."
"Yes, Carter. But there are trees here."
Sam smiled slightly, stepping up to the MALP and opening several compartments. Grabbing several gages and monitors and a case of test tubes.
"Other than that, sir." She oblidged and started towards the nearest tree.
O'Neill smiled slightly. "You go. Analyze. Enjoy." While I die of boredom. He scanned the area around the gate once more then headed towards what looked like a body of water, no more than fifty feet from the gate.
Carter caught the last of it and grinned to herself, sending one quick glance over her shoulder, watching the handsome Colonel give the classic 'this is going to be boring and I'm not gonna like it' look then start to wander off. She took a deep breath.
Why he was even here she didn't know but she could guess. Carter could imagine the Colonel's vacation ending shortly after he decided he was bored and missed the SGC, the constant danger, the thrill of leaving Terra Firma for other worlds, other galaxies. From the frying pan into the fire, but who was she to judge. Besides, it offered a great view.
She worked with that? God!
Then she turned her attention to the soil, flipped on the tape recorder and cleared her throat.
"First analyses of soil on P58C29, taken from the base of native vegetation labeled C29-1."
First analyses of lake on P58C-something-something. Boring. Nothing. Not even a ripple. But the view was good.
Jack smiled at the peaceful lake. The uneven inlet time had created, the gentle roll of cliffs in the distance, the afternoon sun . . . well seeing as how it was an alien planet it wouldn't exactly be afternoon, but it seemed that way. And the sun was getting ready to set beautifully, casting a warm glaze over the place. Peaceful, just right for fishing. Especially the part about there being absolutely no fish in the lake.
Moving from the sandy spot he had stopped on, and heading parallel to the setting sun Jack's thoughts wandered aimlessly. Taking in the numerous trees, though he steered far clear of them. The weird, but attractive bluish plants, with their solid white blossoms.
A bush or three tucked into a knoll looked suspiciously like raspberries. Up there on the swiftly climbing slope there was a rustle of brush that indicated some sort of rodent maybe. He made a face and looked to the other side of what was swiftly becoming a path up a mountain. The landscape dropping away a mess of brush, thistles and rocks that looked ready to create a nuisance at any opportunity.
Yet the path was here, and apparently well used. Obviously the natives weren't concerned with rock slides or erosion on any mass scale.
Up ahead, several hundred feet onward, the Colonel found himself on the flat of the first 'cliff' in the long line that circled around the lake. To his surprise he wasn't alone.
Three figures, wearing robes, or perhaps made of robes themselves hung in a most unhealthy fashion from a thick pole standing erectly in the air. The feet were even with Jack's head.
"Carter?"
"Sir?" Her tinny voice responded over the radio.
"What did you say the natives looked like?"
There was a long pause.
"Um, sir. Neither the UAV or the MALP found any traces of native life other than small rodents and plant . . . sir."
"That's what I thought." He muttered as he slowly reached up to touch the ankle, or what would have been an ankle, if it didn't squish so much. And to his surprise the body was warm. Or at least warmer than it should have been if it were . . . dead. Long dead. But this was fresh dead. The kind of fresh dead he didn't like. The kind that sent that thrill of adrenaline through his system. "Start dialing home, Carter."
"Sir?"
What the hell?
Carter looked up, squinting but not seeing the Colonel, or anything that would be reason to dial home for that matter. But she had little choice. She had learned long ago to trust the instincts of a military man. Quickly collecting the samples she had labeled she placed them in their appropriate places in the case and ran to the MALP turning it on and working it towards the Stargate as she headed for the DHD.
Turning on his heel Jack surveyed the mount once, then headed for the path, the start of which was hidden by a moss-ridden boulder. "Just do it Carter, I'll explain late-"
The ground dropped out from under him and for a second he was flying. Then he landed with a crash, boom, bang, snap and thud.
As the rocks cascaded down after him, pelting him as if in mockery, he let out a sigh. "Ow."
Then all was black.